Wisdom Accepted

"We must treat God as God, big-huge BIG. Obedience to God's wisdom over our limited knowledge is our next step."

I AM A FOOL, spinning my wheels in the sand and calling it progress. We are all fools, building a tower aimed toward heaven and expecting to reach it. Sand in my eyes, I squint hoping to see further forward. One grip on the stars, a dozen feet on land, we call ourselves giants, confident the words fit the crime.

Absent of God’s wisdom, our any effort is us, fists clenched, boxing the air. Abraham became father of a multitude, father of nations, at age 100 because he believed God’s words years before, despite what his mind said about it, his family, his friends, or his servants. It had to have made an impact when he changed his name, yet that was God’s instruction because God knew what Abraham accepted that he, himself, did not.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We must treat God as God, big-huge BIG. Obedience to God’s wisdom over our limited knowledge is our next step. We admit our point of view is a jot or a tittle compared to God’s. Here is maturity. A child comes to a point growing up when they know Mom and Dad have wisdom they do not, or they end up face planting beneath the monkey bars. Stay in the yard means don’t go in the street. Click. Wisdom accepted.

Ephesians 1 says we are now seated in heavenly places with Christ. This is an amazing truth, but having God’s perspective doesn’t immediately make us able to recognize what we’re seeing. Men trained in battle tactics see battle lines in a different way from the average human. God sees things like God and reveals what He sees to us through His Word and through His Spirit, but we must know His voice and see the map next to the photograph. Otherwise, we’re making wrong turns. And one glance won’t do it. Minister Bill Johnson read the gospels for 10 years, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on repeat, to see Jesus in them. I picked this habit up after him, realizing I knew beans about those books. Just three years later, I can’t believe how much I didn’t see for half a century.

One summer, I read Romans in the Message Bible over and over again. Read it by chapters, then as one long letter, and the flow of it revealed things spot reading couldn’t. There’s what I’ve learned that the Spirit has spoken to me at times, as well. He’s turned me to passages in the Word that I wasn’t thinking about and opened up the picture of them for me. I learned from Him because I was listening, because I knew His voice.

A prophet hears from God about present events. He hears because He recognizes the flow of the Spirit to him. He then weighs what he’s been given against the Word and against the Presence of God in that moment. Prophecy is God’s wisdom spoken to us, and it’s often in riddles, in poetic language, to make us seek Him further, to push in deeper, and to pray.

John 7 is a picture of chaos. Jesus is speaking to many people, and they are reacting in a myriad of ways, confusion, affirmation, enlightenment, hatred. But in speaking what the Father gave Him to speak, He stirs the pot and all that’s settled becomes active. We like our ruts, and the people around Him had fallen into theirs. Yes, Jesus’ words caused some to deny who He was, but what of those who saw Him anew? What of Peter who declared Jesus held the words of eternal life? What of Nicodemus who defended Jesus’ right to speak, to his own mocking.

What we’re comfortable in feels like wisdom, but usually, it’s simply familiar, and familiarity can make for ignorance, for foolishness. Israel as a nation looked for a conqueror to toss Rome off her pedestal and so overlooked the salvation moving among them. This sounds crazily familiar to me. Yes, God has America in His hands, but maybe His wisdom is not in the familiar. Maybe He sees more than us and we should seek Him for it. Maybe we should consider the prophets and pray into what those like Dutch Sheets are speaking over this land.

Maybe we should stop criticizing and complaining because in our offense is shortsightedness. God sees over that, and I never want my attitude to be the reason I am blind. I despise hatred and critical speaking. We should all be that way because only what we hate will we work to overcome. What feels nice in our armchair just might strangulate us. Put the spoon down, turn off the remote, and pick up the Book. If you’re uncomfortable praying, that’s a sign. If worship “isn’t your thing,” you should sing louder. If you go to church and glare at someone for sitting in your seat, you need to surrender to God. Our submission to God will place us where we can resist the devil.

Do you see it yet? God knows the nth. We are only as smart, as wise, as our determination to stay humble and listen.

“I give all my praises and glory to the one who has more than enough power to make you strong and keep you steadfast through the promises found in the wonderful news that I preach; that is, the proclamation of Jesus, the Anointed One. This wonderful news includes the unveiling of the mystery kept secret from the dawn of creation until now. This mystery is understood through the prophecies of the Scripture and by the decree of the eternal God. And it is now heard openly by all the nations, igniting within them a deep commitment of faith. Now to God, the only source of wisdom, be glorious praises for endless ages through Jesus, the Anointed One! Amen!” (Romans 16:25-27 TPT)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com