Wednesday, January 04, 2012 1:37 PM
The search for wisdom.
This was my devotional today:
1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. 9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
- Proverbs 2:1-9
I reckon especially at this point in my life, a search for wisdom is key. When we're young, we're so reckless, wild, curious, experimental and if we're not the ones who influence, we're easily influenced. I had a pretty good headstart when I was younger; I stayed away from the things that weren't going to do me any good.
But as I've matured and grown over the years, I realize that wisdom is not only differentiating what is 'right' and 'wrong', but it's also for understanding the finer lines of emotions and situations. My heart has been pressed down, rolled over, shaken and shaken again as God has been revealing things to me that still need to be cleared out or things that I've had a wrong perspective on all this time.
Wisdom is pure gold. When you come out of a situation and you know you did what you had to do - And I'm not talking about going with instinct or intuition, I mean actually thinking through and concluding that what needs to be done is the right way (though not necessarily the easiest way) - it's a level of peace, not satisfaction. If you only get satisfaction, be wary of selfishness and pride. Nobody is 'right' in this world; only God is.
My Godpa Peter gave me a particular devotional for my Christmas present this year, and said to me it's time to go deeper with God. All the surface things are going well, so now time to dig into the ground.
Challenge Accepted.