The Dawning of Wisdom

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

You have done many good things for me, Lord, just as you promised.  I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgment and knowledge.  I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word.  You are good and do only good; teach me your decrees.  Arrogant people smear me with lies, but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart.  Their hearts are dull and stupid, but I delight in your instructions.  My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.  Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver.                    Psalm 119:65-72

King David is thought to have written this longest of the Psalms.  The context of his life certainly fits the main thoughts of obedience to God’s Word.  David recounts the kind way God dealt with him after he “wandered-off” with Bathsheba, disciplining him to bring him to obediently seek God’s ways, and keeping his selfish ways in check.  He seeks good judgment and knowledge, hallmarks of a forgiven man who wants to get it right this time.  The marriage of knowledge with good judgment is what we would call wisdom.  Knowledge is knowing…good judgment is the “doing of the knowing”.

Mark Twain’s sharp humor was always laced with sound and worthwhile reasoning.  Among sayings attributed to him:[1]

One of the prime examples of the lessons David learned in being disciplined (and which all of us can benefit by adopting) is his confession that his suffering through God’s discipline was GOOD.  David realized the benefit of God’s rebuke, the correction of his life’s pathway, which had strayed from God’s will.  He didn’t see the pain of being corrected as “unfair” or “too hurtful” – he cherished the love God showed him by not destroying him for his sins, but helping David change.  This only comes about by the beginning of wisdom.

For You Today 

Have you had the experience of God taking you to the woodshed?  Did you reject His discipline?  If so, you’re also aware how unfruitful it is to remain in that stubborn petulance.  God wants the best for you; that involves giving Him the worst of you to correct.  Let the good judgment of God’s wisdom begin!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Images:  Wikimedia.org   Images without citation are in public domain. Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] 1950 August 11, The Newark Advocate, Sunday School Lesson for Sunday August 13: Spiritual Illiterates by Roy L. Smith, Quote Page 18, Column 2, Newark, Ohio. (Newspapers_com)

The House of Wisdom

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns.  She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table.  She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come.  She calls out from the heights overlooking the city.  “Come in with me,” she urges the simple.  To those who lack good judgment, she says, “Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed.  Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live; learn to use good judgment.”  Proverbs 9:1-6

The Proverb-writer has purposefully described the open-handedness of God in a universal invitation to gain wisdom.  There’s a great banquet of wisdom, and an army of messengers to spread the open offer to come close to the source.  It’s a house of life-giving good judgment; it’s a place to grow strong, leaving the simplicity of childish ways, for the strength of providing for others. 

The “front door” of wisdom’s house arrived early-on in the introduction Solomon gave the Proverbs…where to begin if you wish to live a life of disciplined success, knowing how to do what is right, just, and fair.

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  Proverbs 1:7

The foundation of wisdom’s house is fearing God…being reverent, respectful, and obedient to our Creator.  It is a small, but exceedingly-meaningful and important step to begin any journey.  If that step is in the wrong direction, the end of the journey will not be what one hoped.  That first step (surrendering every aspect of your life to reverencing God all through the journey) cannot be over-valued.

John was a retired Naval officer I met many years ago.  He attempted to side-step that first step.  He had seen much of the world and experienced many different cultures, but neglected Solomon’s advice about wisdom’s front door.  He had his own agenda, and that was his god.  Now, I do not say that with prejudice, or lightly; it’s simply an observable fact.  Whatever you do reveals that to which you give your allegiance.  If I go fishing 12 hours a day, it’s a reasonable assumption my behavior means I’m devoted to fishing. 

A living, breathing, passionate thirst for God’s Kingdom indicates you have (at least) begun the journey towards wisdom.  The retired Navy man craved experiences that pleased him.  When we met he was ready to “experience” faith.  He went through the motions, profession of faith, baptism, and church membership.  But, for John, it was like a field trip, another experience.  Soon, that brush with religious activities became boring, and then turned hostile.  In the end he became a sad footnote on the evening news, committing suicide in a stand-off with police in front of the local K-Mart store. 

I cried privately over John for months.  He had made the choice of a foolish and anguished moment, after trying to live life on his own.  In the end, experiences and the pleasure he thought they ought to bring him, just weren’t enough. 

For You Today 

It’s not enough to proclaim faith, get wet in a baptismal ceremony, have your name recorded on a church membership roster, and attend church regularly for the rest of your life.  Solomon did all of that, and also experienced every pleasure possible, and came to understood that real wisdom meant reverencing Almighty God.  Scripture tells us how we should respond to God, our maker:

“Be still, and know that I am God!  I will be honored by every nation.  I will be honored throughout the world.”  Psalm 46:10

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Standing in the Sweet Spot  and  Learning to Use Good Judgment   

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

The Quintessential Rearview Mirror

Friday, September 30, 2022

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.  I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.  Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:  The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”  The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.  So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.  Lamentations 3:19-26

When you’ve either been through, or going through a rough patch (COVID, War, Divorce, Prison, or a thousand other nightmares), the tendency is usually to stare into one of two places – the road ahead, or the rearview mirror.  To be glued to the rearview mirror is to hold on to the anguish and pain of the past, embracing the rough patch as the future.  To dwell on the past means you are driving blindly into the future, and we know where failing to keep your eyes on the road will lead.  (Laws against texting while driving were placed on the books for a reason!).

However painful the rearview mirror can be, at times we must shoot a quick look there, to be sure of two things:

1.    We are aware of what we left behind.

2.    We are still progressing away from the road that led to the rough patch.

If knowledge is power, running on a low battery is a dumb thing.  It is foolish to not remember what got you into the rough patch, or the dangers that might lead you back there.  Real wisdom is the common sense that puts knowledge (good or evil) to good use.  As the wise person once said:  if we fail to remember the mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them in the future.

Even an ostrich in a hurricane has enough sense to look above the storm to chart his course.

For You Today

So, to be (at least) as wise as a bird-brain, use the rearview mirror to poke your head out of the hole in the ground so you can get above the harsh conditions, and get a bead on where you need to go.  In short, look above, you’ll find plenty of answers as the Lord leads you out of the rough patch, even if the road seems rocky.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Has God Forgotten to Be Gracious? and Hard Times & Growing Churches   

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Perfect Math

 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.  They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.  Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.  But not the wicked!  They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.  They will be condemned at the time of judgment.  Sinners will have no place among the godly.  For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.  Psalm 1:1-6

My brother, Thom, is the math major in the family.  Before he retired he taught young people math skills for over 50 years.  When speaking the language of math Thom sometimes encounters that blank look from his brother.  My math does not enter the lofty realm of quantum physics and such.  Give me 1 + 1 = 2, and I’ll be with you to the finish; if you get much past 3 + 4, I’m (as they say) out the door! 

By contrast, the language of the Primary Psalm is math, simple enough for even me.  And it answers a question concerning “divine earthly retribution” which scholars have debated for centuries.  That question is: 

Does God really bless the good behavior of those
who honor Him, and punish the wicked?

It is tempting to read the Psalm that way and expect immediate reward and punishment.  But that would be to presume we understand all there is to know about God’s timetable.  And that would be a wrong presumption, because there are at least two Scripture passages which point-out how we must not try to put God into a box, by assigning when it is right to hand-out punishment or blessing:

1.     Time was created by God, a sufficient reason to understand why he isn’t constrained by time.  The Creator is always above and beyond the creation.

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  2 Peter 3:8

2.    We cannot possibly understand the motives of, and movements in, the purposes of God. 

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:9

We can always count on God to punish the wicked and lift-up the righteous, but we must constantly remind ourselves to not assume the position of judge over God.  And we must also constantly resist the thought that we know all about what God thinks, or does.  Remember, there are some secret things[1] which God reserves to himself. 

For You Today

For now we must trust God, and look forward to the time when He reveals all to us, which he has also promised:

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.  1 John 3:2

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] See Deuteronomy 29:29

When Great Knowledge is THIN

[1]

Friday, February 2, 2018

Elihu continued speaking:  “Let me go on, and I will show you the truth.  For I have not finished defending God!  I will present profound arguments for the righteousness of my Creator.  I am telling you nothing but the truth, for I am a man of great knowledge.  “God is mighty, but he does not despise anyone!  He is mighty in both power and understanding.  He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted.  He never takes his eyes off the innocent, but he sets them on thrones with kings and exalts them forever.  If they are bound in chains and caught up in a web of trouble, he shows them the reason.  He shows them their sins of pride.  He gets their attention and commands that they turn from evil.  “If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives.  All their years will be pleasant.  But if they refuse to listen to him, they will cross over the river of death, dying from lack of understanding.  For the godless are full of resentment.  Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help.  They die when they are young, after wasting their lives in immoral living.  But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer.  For he gets their attention through adversity.  Job 36:1-15^(NLT)

Elihu was one of Job’s three “friends” who came to see him in his great distress.  In the space of a few sentences in chapter 1 Job went from rich, respected, and blessed to children all dead, and Job is left sitting on the ash-heap covered with boils, with his wife whispering in his ear that he ought to commit suicide.  The judging, condemning “comfort” of his so-called friends may have been the foundation for the old saying: 

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Elihu claimed to be a man of great knowledge.  But his knowledge was as thin as his black and white, cut and dried so-called understanding of God’s ways. 

Elihu did understand the basic attributes of God, lovingkindness, merciful, sovereign, and certainly judging justly.  What he failed to understand is that you cannot evaluate God based upon outward appearances of another human being – particularly one like Job, whose fortunes turned on a dime.  Elihu’s whole demeanor during these 38 chapters of conversation between the friends and Job is that of arrogance and judging.  Elihu essentially holds onto his position like a tiger with its kill, that Job must have done something pretty bad to tick God off this much.  He saw Job’s misfortune as an expression of Job’s character – he was a bad man inside, so God gave him a whipping.

The problem with Elihu’s understanding – and his theology – is that it is thin.  He has not opened his heart wide enough, nor has he lived long enough with pain or God, to know that not every difficulty or adversity is due to some secret sin.  If that were the case, would we not judge Jesus to be sinful because he died a criminal’s death?  Would not Nelson Mandela’s decades in prison mean God was really mad at him?  Could we not draw the conclusion that Jeremiah had no faith because he was shamed by Israel’s king, put in jail, and ultimately died in exile?

For such issues as human pain and suffering we have to start with what God has said about his ways:

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:9^(NLT)

For You Today

If pain and suffering are your closest companions lately, and you’re getting just a little annoyed with God, it doesn’t mean God is punishing you; it means your understanding of God’s ways are a bit thin. 

Talk to Him about it all; He’s waiting and wants to listen to you. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

Conversations with Peter - Part THREE - Spiritual Understanding

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.  With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.  Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.   2 Peter 1:5 - 9 (TMSG)

We are talking with the Apostle Peter – fisherman, follower of Jesus, fisher of men, Bible chapter author, martyred disciple of Christ, and a very good friend of mine!

The big fisherman is helping us understand the kinds of qualities that undergird the life of a disciple.  If it’s anyone who would know how to overcome the frailties of human nature, it’s certainly Peter.  He was the one who constantly spoke before his brain was engaged in spiritual understanding; the one who was ready to grab a sword when he should have been praying, and He was the one who ultimately denied the Christ he pledged to follow to the death! 

Peter knew firsthand what it was like to fail at every spiritual discipline.  Yet he eventually found himself at the very head of the movement to spread the Gospel.  That should tell us that no matter how badly we’ve messed up, Christ can use us in His Kingdom’s work.

And isn’t THAT good news!!!

So What is spiritual understanding, and How do I get it?

Spiritual understanding is a personal, intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It’s not just general knowledge.  Anyone who has a computer and can type in “Google” can gain a world of general knowledge. 

But spiritual understanding is more than that.  Spiritual understanding is a matter of sensing how God moves and what His will is prodding you to do/say/be.  This is the kind of understanding which is coupled with good character, the moral integrity which makes power powerfully good.

If I have a stick of dynamite in my hand I can use it to blow up a train track and be the cause of lives lost and mass hysteria.  Or I can use it to blast a tunnel through solid rock so water can be via-ducted to a whole village in a third world setting.  Spiritual understanding holds well the power of God.

How does one come by this “add-on” to basic faith and good character?  The source of all spiritual understanding for humans is God’s Holy Spirit.

For You, Today…

Peter tells us no day will pass without reward when we exercise spiritual understanding. 

Take some time today to pray for God’s Spirit to have all of you; that way, in whatever way God wants to use you today – He will have no trouble imparting spiritual understanding and wisdom into your heart and mind.

That’s a conversation worth having!

Omniscient

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9 (NRSV)

…he knows everything.  1 John 3:20b (NRSV)

When someone calls you a “know-it-all” they’re usually not being very kind.  When God refers to Himself that way…well, His ways and thoughts ARE at a different pay grade.

Omniscience (in God’s case) is not just having all the information that can be gathered as facts.  As the Psalmist points out, the sum of God-knowledge is beyond all knowledge; un-understandable.

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond measure.  Psalms 147:5 (NRSV)

God’s knowledge not only sees our steps…

“For his eyes are upon the ways of mortals, 

and he sees all their steps.                   Job 34:21 (NRSV)

…His knowledge will be the central theme of judgment for where our steps have taken us.  We are accountable for our actions and God knows!  God knows, indeed!

And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.  Hebrews 4:13 (NRSV)

The “predictive” element in God’s omniscience has always fascinated theologians, philosophers and simple people like me.  How can He know what hasn’t even happened?  

And yet, so says the Scriptures, He is Alpha and Omega ^{Rev 1:8}; beginning and END!

Think Farmer’s Almanac.  (You knew I’d get around to the farming metaphor).

Year after year since 1792 this amazing little publication has predicted the weather and probability for crop productivity with an amazing 80% success.

But God’s “success rate” is 100%!

There’s a new fad called “open” theology, which holds God really doesn’t know exactly what is going to happen; it all depends on man’s choices – and then God responds accordingly.

The overwhelming number of references (both Old and New Testament) to God’s ultimate omniscience, make anything less than His ways and thoughts being beyond our comprehension, well….incomprehensible.

 “Fail rate” on open theology?  100%. 

Today…for you

Remember that sin?

 

I’m not talking about the word you said when you hit your thumb with the hammer.  Or the thought you had when that crazy driver cut you off on I-85.  I mean that little secret, deep down that you try to never think about, but it’s there….and it eats you alive when you try to pray…but you’re afraid to bring it up to God, because you might have to give it up?  

Remember that one?

Psssst….He already knows.  He’s willing to forgive, and help you forsake it; and even forget it!  But, it won’t happen until you own it, confess it, and let it go.

Not sound right?  That’s because His ways really are much higher than yours.