… through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,
Summary: Getting God’s wisdom and understanding sounds good, but how much can we really handle?
I have been reminded lately of our need to rely on God and not man. This is a hard lesson for us humans to learn. We like to rely on the people around us because we can see and touch them. Unfortunately, people are fallible. If we are let down in life, it will be because of people, not God.
Happily, God is always present, always watching, and always there for us. Like a parent with a small child, God observes us as we awkwardly make our way around the room. One moment we appear to be walking well on our own, and the next moment we wobble precariously close to the edge of the coffee table.
God understands that we want to walk on our own. He made us that way. Yet, he also wants a relationship with us. He wants us to trust him (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Sometimes, when a parent sees their child getting too cocky, they have to intervene. In the same way, God sometimes intervenes in our lives to help us refocus on him and his will. When that happens, we don’t always understand why it happens. That is when we need wisdom and understanding.
Jesus promises that we who believe in him will receive the Holy Spirit. He didn’t say he would force us to listen to his Spirit! We have to choose to do that on our own.
When God fills us with the knowledge of his will, we become aware that it is God’s will for us to use the knowledge he gives us. Here again, God does not promise to give us access to everything he knows. As the prophet Isaiah points out:
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
If we knew everything God knows, our brains would explode!
To keep that from happening, God shares knowledge with us as we need it. He doesn’t share his entire plan with every contingency. Instead, he shares what we need for the day. Sometimes, all we can handle is what we need for the next baby step.
Perhaps that is the best way to look at it. In reality, we are all children (Matthew 11:25, Proverbs 1:4).
Application: Trust God’s leading moment by moment.
Food for Thought: How is God’s wisdom and understanding different than our own?
How is God’s wisdom and understanding different than our own?
God is today allowing Iran to by choice, attack Israel with rocket and ballistic missile fire. Before this is over, we will see the power of Iran totally removed from this earth as they are reduced to poverty, and God’s 9,000,000 strong, in the small country of Israel prevail.
Very interesting, Ron!
Thank you!
It is not only different than my own, it is beyond me to fully grasp. Thankfully He has expressed some of His wisdom in His word.
Romans 11: 33 – 36: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and i knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?” j
35“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?” k
36For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Thank you, Rich!
That is a BEE-U-TEE-FUL passage! 🙂
God’s wisdom and understanding is absolute, complete and infallible. It is never wrong and completely trustworthy.
Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
Mankind’s wisdom and understanding is limited, incomplete, and because of this, “prone to error.”
Ecclesiastes 7:23-24
23 I have examined all this by wisdom;
I said, “I am determined to comprehend this”—but it was beyond my grasp.
24 Whatever has happened is beyond human understanding;
it is far deeper than anyone can fathom.
Thanks, Chris!
We humans have a few other handicaps as well. Besides being prone to error we have very short lifespans, limited knowledge, emotional and intellectual blind spots, and a tendency to rationalize what we want.