Wisdom can be a surprise . . .

The average person might think that wisdom comes with grey hair and years of experience. My dad didn’t think this was true. He knew older people can miss out on wisdom and sometimes said, “There is no fool like an old fool.”

Not everyone learns from their mistakes. Researchers at the University of London did experiments to show that some brains are better at it than others. Others believe the reason is that some people are so certain that their way of doing things is correct that they cannot identify mistakes; their ego blinds them to it. This theory is more like biblical descriptions of ‘fools’ whose self-view is greatly over-inflated.

Whatever the cause, the solution does not require age and years of experience. It only needs a humble admission of need and a prayer:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5–8)

Just ask God and He who knows all the answers and ways of humanity will give a solution that is perfect for the situation or need. There is a caveat though; the person praying must be convinced that God will answer and that His answer is the best answer.

One of my earliest requests for wisdom regarded a conflict our son was having in a new school. He was one of three boys in a large class of girls. As the ‘new kid’ with blond hair and a deep suntan, the girls singled him as the object of their attention. The other two guys, who were 2-3 years older and much larger, had a sinister plot to ‘fix’ the problem by rearranging our son’s face. He told me about the threat and I asked for wisdom.

This requires remembering that God does not think like we think. His answers can be unusual, even odd. In this case, He told me to tell my son what to do. He was to tell his tormentors he could not fight at school because his parents would have a fit, but they could fight in our garage if they used boxing gloves. My son was as shocked at this ‘wisdom’ as I was. He said, “But what if they decided to do it?”

I said, again at the Lord’s prompting, “We will have milk and cookies first.” His face lit up and off he went to school. I never found out what transpired in his conversation with those boys, but the problem was resolved. They may have had the same rule about fighting from their parents or their bark was worse than their bite. Whatever the situation, God’s odd wisdom offered a solution that otherwise would never have occurred to either of us.

The caveat is not to doubt the answer, no matter what it is. To do so is to doubt God and this amazing promise. He wants to give what is needed. I’m to receive it gladly, not think I know better or that His ways will not work.

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Lord Jesus, I’m not sure what this day will bring, but for every challenge and issue in it, I ask for Your wisdom to prevail. May my ears and my heart be open to Your input so that I not only hear You but welcome Your ideas. You make this life a great adventure and I don’t want to miss it by thinking I have all the answers.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- Being able to work out a plan for several projects.

- A visit from one granddaughter whose heavy work schedule gave her time off to come and see me.

- Able to sit and visit while watching a rugby game I taped.

- Hubby home early from a trip to a distant project.

- Fatigue from checking off lots of my to-do list.

- God’s wisdom for every decision.

A ten-ticket ride!

Last week an enthusiastic friend repeated the simple gospel and said, “How many churches preach that these days?” He was convinced that no one did. I replied, “Every church that I’ve attended.”

Tozer writes something similar for today’s devotional that I think would be true of many politicians but not many preachers. He says that pastors today would rather give their congregations tranquilizers than preach holiness and have them fall under the conviction power of God.

Again, this is foreign to me. I understand that powerful leaders might be determined to control their people, yet this is not what I’ve seen in church leaders. I thank God that in all our moves and travels, He has led us to solid, Bible-believing places of worship with godly men and women in positions of leadership.

Yet I know that some are not so solid. Even in the early church, only one of Paul’s letters had very little to correct. While he praised most of them, they also had problems. Of special note, the church in Galatia received no praise, only the strongest rebuke for going off-target. It happened then; it happens today.

The book of Revelation begins with letters to seven churches. Most were rebuked for something, even the stronger churches like the one in Ephesus:

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’” (Revelation 2:1–7)

These days, some may suppose that God either does not care or even know what is going on. However, as Tozer also writes, “Our Lord is a holy Lord, and His eyes are as a flame of fire. His X-ray eyes can see right through everything! We can hide nothing from God. He sees all and knows all.”

It is more often us who do not care or are unaware of our lax condition and lack of concern about holiness. As Tozer says, we can fall into thinking the Lord should accept our respectability as spirituality and be satisfied with the status quo.

For many church leaders, a congregation that behaves itself is just fine, but a congregation where everyone follows the leading of the Holy Spirit is scary. I know that unless I am following Him myself, I’m usually worried about what is happening or not happening in other Christians. But when yielded to the Spirit, trusting Him for everything, I know that He wants our good and Christ glorified, and that He has the power to make both happen. I don’t need to be anxious about leaders who are on power-trips either, for He is able to change their hearts as well as mine. The church does not need better preachers; we need to all be yielded to the Holy Spirit! It could be a wild ride, but it will never be sinful or regretted.

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Lord Jesus, You want me to give myself to Your complete control, to give up all aspects of self-rule and trust You for everything. You want to fill me with Your Spirit so I will reflect Your image and be the person You created me to be. Only pride will have me on a power trip yet when yielded to You, I don’t want to go there. Keep me in the center of Your will and focused on Your holiness. Without You, I am nothing and can do nothing.

No debt to pay

I use a popular software to keep track of my income and spending. Without an accountant’s mind, this helps me with accuracy and the simple reality that if spending exceeds income, the numbers turn red.

The New Testament uses accounting language in a few places. For instance, I’m to consider myself dead to sin and alive to God. That means putting my old life in the debit column and my new life in the credit column. These two verses hint at the same idea:

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:22–23)

However, the way we keep track of money is not quite the same. It only gives a visual picture of what is gone and what is now ours. Tozer puts it this way: Counting is not the language of poetry or sentiment but of cold, unerring calculation. It adds up the columns thus: sorrow, temptation, difficulty, opposition, depression, desertion, danger, discouragement . . . but at the bottom of the column God’s presence, God’s will, God’s joy, God’s promise, God’s recompense.

A sinful life fills the death column. The gift of God fills the life column. Yet as Tozer says, no Christian can boast about what they gave up to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Anything I had, or was, or possessed is nothing compared to what the Lord has called me to, has gifted me in the column called life.

Some Christians have trouble speaking of their old life, as if they have lost or forsaken a good thing for a better thing. How can that be? How can we not realize the wonder of salvation, the wonder of knowing Almighty God and walking with Him? How can anything be compared to fellowship with Him and His family? I would be a fool to lament the loss of all things to gain Christ. Paul wrote the same idea:

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:4–11)

Paul went from a life of religious zeal to living in the power of Christ. For those who God calls, this reality is mind-blowing, an adventure beyond human imagination. Even without a calling like Paul’s, the humblest believer enjoys the blessings of grace, forgiveness and peace that cannot be compared with the best that this world has to offer.

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Jesus, I am so thankful for my salvation, for the wonder of those assets You have written into my ‘credit’ column, and the grace for those debits You have cleared from my record. I owe God nothing for You have paid it all. Considering anything as loss is in reality a bill no longer outstanding. You have paid all my debts and I have been set free.