Wisdom
I think of many different things when I think about wisdom.
I think of cartoon owls.
I think of old people in the movies starting a conversation with “when I was a kid”.
I think of King Solomon asking and receiving wisdom from the Lord.
I think of Yoda teaching Anakin the ways of the force.
I think of all the people in my life who hold wisdom and have poured it out to me. I think of all the times when I haven’t thought I was wise enough to answer a question or provide insight. I think of all the times I’ve heard a teammate say something only to have everyone else stare in awe at the wisdom that just came from their mouth.
The dictionary depicts wisdom as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment.
This type of wisdom is very worldly. It’s the kind of wisdom we think of when people tell us “you’ll understand when you’re older”. Sabrina, one of the staff at the Adventures Guatemala base, spoke on heavenly wisdom the other day. She explained how much the phrase “you’ll understand when you’re older” limits us. Solomon was about my age when he was handed a kingdom to rule, and he became one of the greatest kings. And it was all because he asked God for wisdom.
Sabrina explained how having wisdom was the same thing as having a heavenly mindset. When we have a heavenly mindset we realize that there are so many things we can’t understand in this world because we aren’t God-because we don’t know his wisdom. Basically: We have to understand that there is so much we can’t understand. We worship a God that is so much bigger than anything we could ever imagine, so much wiser than we could ever grasp.
Thinking about this, I was reminded of the story of Job in the bible. Job questions God. He wants to know why everything is happening to him. But God knows everything, and Job doesn’t. It’s hard for us to trust God’s wisdom and character when our limited evidence seems contrary. It was hard for Job, and I know it’s hard for me too. Sometimes we don’t understand why God could be letting us go through pain, why he could let certain situations happen in our lives. It comes down to this: God has more wisdom than us, and even though it might not make sense to us, it definitely makes sense to him.
God’s kingdom is built on submission. His kingdom comes when we give something up, when we say yes to God and goodbye to the ways of the flesh. Our flesh, our human ways, are very inconsistent. A lot of times we forget that we have been given access to heavenly wisdom. It’s okay though, because God knows this. He knows that we are human and that we need his help. And he is so willing to give us that help. He will help us see things through his eyes because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. The Holy Spirit gives us heavenly wisdom to help us everyday. When we need to make a decision, when we go out in door to door ministry, when we have a conversation with a friend – God already knows what we need even when we don’t. When we call on his wisdom, he will show us how to love others, how to meet them where they are at, and how to bring his light to them. We just have to say yes to what he is asking.
Sometimes saying yes it hard. We tell God we want him to work in our lives, we ask him to build something new, but then we get upset when it isn’t easy. We forget that when God tears something down, it’s because he’s building something new and better in it’s place.
It’s really easy to forget this thought. Just the other day we were practicing ATL (check back on my last post if you are wondering what that is) at the base, asking the Lord what he had to say to someone else in the room. It was really cool to see so many people get up out of their seats and head over to someone else the Lord had put on their hearts to share some truth with. When I was praying I heard the name Sabrina. Immediately I told myself that wasn’t the right name, because I would never go up to a staff member who seemed so much wiser than me. I told God he must have meant to say Selina, another girl on my squad. But as I sat there, I kept hearing the name Sabrina and seeing pictures of oranges. To me, oranges represent something that bring joy and life, and I knew that God wanted me to tell Sabrina that he saw that in her, that she was a life bringer. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t think I had enough wisdom to tell someone older than me what God wanted to say to them, especially in front of a room full of people. I sat and sat and sat, until I finally let God get my attention.
God reminded me that I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me. He reminded me that I can hear his voice. He reminded me that he is wise. He reminded me that any words that come from him are full of wisdom. Sabrina had just given us a talk on how God gives us wisdom! And here I was dwelling on the fact that I didn’t want to walk up front because someone might see! I was so caught up in my little bubble of shyness that I was about to turn away from the kingdom bringing that God asked of me! So I got up and I walked to the front. I sat down by Sabrina and told her what the Lord had shown me. And I realized that the words God gives me are important. I realized that because I call on him, he does give me wisdom. I realized that I don’t have to be shy about it.
God realized this too. He realized that I needed to be bolder. Because when I turned around to walk back to my seat, still pretty glad that no one had really noticed me, he made me walk right into the cajon, knock it over with a giant bang, and every single person turned to stare at me.
So I’m going to embrace all my shy moments and get over them, because I know he is working through the seemingly awkward situations.
I’m going to be bolder, and speak up when the Lord gives me something to say.
And I’m going to realize that the words I have to say have wisdom, because they are given by God, and he is wise.
