Episode 1. A Different Kind of Wisdom
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Wisdom. It’s something that we all want and yet, in each one of us, there’s a stubbornness, a resistance to the changes that the getting of wisdom demands. Maybe that’s why we keep making the …
Wisdom. It’s something that we all want and yet, in each one of us, there’s a stubbornness, a resistance to the changes that the getting of wisdom demands. Maybe that’s why we keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again.
Let’s be honest. Sometimes we do the dumbest things. We don’t mean to, we just do. And there comes a point where you think to yourself: “Why am I making this same mistake over and over again?” I’m guessing you’ve been there.
For some people, it’s constant worry. Sure you’ve heard the bit where Jesus says “Who, by worrying, can add a single hour to their lives?” (Matt 6:27). Maybe you’ve heard it a hundred times before, but you still can’t stop worrying.
Perhaps you’re someone who carries anger and bitterness around in your heart. Sure, you know that the Bible says – “don’t let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph 4:26) … but that anger keeps bubbling away.
Or maybe your someone who is constantly trying to impress other people. You know it’s a pride thing. You know that pride comes before the fall (Prov 16:18) but, well, you know …
There are so many things that hold us back in this life. There are so many things that we hang on to for dear life, that are in fact ruining our lives. We all have our Achilles heel. We all have blind spots. We all have circumstances in our lives where ‘doing it my way’ – as much as that may be the way we’ve always done it – just doesn’t work.
If I asked you, in those circumstances, “Do you want to be wise?” I’m sure your answer would be, “Absolutely!”. But then, if I asked you, “So, are you prepared to make the changes you need to make to get that wisdom; to live out that wisdom?”
Well, most of us, at that point, would hesitate; equivocate. “Change? Really? Change? Well, I’m not so sure about that.”
If we’re going to talk about wisdom then, we have to start at the beginning.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
Now maybe that’s a verse that you’ve heard many times before. But let’s just get a grip on it for a minute. The fear of the Lord means an awe, a respect; a realisation of the terrible outcomes of the judgements of God.
My father loved be and I loved him. But let me tell you, when I was a lad, I knew that if I did something wrong, there was going to be a reckoning with my dad. And if it was bad enough, I knew that it would involve punishment.
We just toddle along through life as though anything goes. If it feels good do it. I wonder though, if we thought a bit more about the terrible judgement of God, if we questioned our thoughts, our motives, our actions, if we asked ourselves “What would God think about this, really?” … I wonder if that wouldn’t open our hearts to God’s wisdom.
A few years ago, I recorded a radio program about the fear of God. Now, I remember thinking to myself “No one wants to hear about the fear of God these days.” But I just felt God nudging me towards that message.
So, I did it. I wrote it, I recorded it. And a few months later, I received an email from a man in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is what he wrote:
I was at a peace conference in Goma and in my hotel room I turned on the radio. I heard a program about the fear of God. And I realised that with no fear of God in the hearts of people there will be no peace! No peace at all! I don’t know if this was a revelation from God … but my heart was beating, coming far away, God was speaking to me. I have been on the battle field for 13 years now and I don’t know how many people have died because of my gun, but what I know is that I decided to lay down my arms in that hotel room.
I’ve never forgotten that email. He gave his life to Christ and ended up fleeing to another country in fear of his life. The bit of his email that keeps ringing out for me is where he says, “without the fear of God there can be no peace, no peace at all!”
You know what, he’s absolutely right. When we just carry on as if anything goes, when we live our lives for ourselves without any respect, without any awe, without a right sense of the fear of God in our hearts, we are going to make a hash of it. A complete mess of our lives and a complete mess of the lives of the people around us. The people we hurt through what we say and do. Through the expression of anger and disapproval on our face. Through our failure to love them, the way they need to be loved.
And the crazy thing about this ‘fear of God’ thing, is that once we yield our lives to God, once we say, “Lord I’m sick of making mistakes. My way doesn’t work. I want your way. I want your wisdom. I want your help. Once we do that, all the fear in fact goes away.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. (1 John 4:18)
Yes there is a terrible judgement that awaits those who rebel against God. A terrible But when we come to a turning point, as Safari Murinzi came to a turning point in that hotel room, the fear goes away.
When we choose to live in God’s love, that perfect love casts out all fear.
God wants to impart to you, His wisdom. The wisdom of the ages. My dad had a lot of wisdom. He wasn’t perfect of course, but he took the time and made the effort to impart much of that wisdom into my life.
And to a great extent that wisdom has made me the man I am today.
Imagine though, God who is perfect, God who knows all things for all time, God who loves you beyond measure, wanting to impart His wisdom into your life. Surely, we have to stand back from that, you and I, and think to ourselves, “WOW! That’s amazing!!” And it is. Totally amazing.
Just think for a moment of the things that you have going on in your life right at this moment that are causing you grief. The things that are complicated, that you just can’t sort out and fix. Imagine now, that God is prepared to speak His word of wisdom into that one situation that’s driving you to despair.
Would you want to hear that wisdom? Would you want to receive that wisdom? Probably out of frustration, out of a desire just to get that thing sorted, the answer is a big, fat “Yes!”
But then let’s say you open your Bible and you read this verse:
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. (Proverbs 8:13)
And you realise that actually it’s your pride and your arrogance, the way you’ve been talking to other people, that’s the biggest factor in this dilemma in which you find yourself.
Now let me ask you again. Do you want to receive that wisdom? It’s not easy is it.
There’s this thing inside each one of us that wants to blame everyone and everything else for our problems, except our selves. And yet so often, the getting of wisdom involves owning up. It involves being honest with ourselves. It involves making the changes that we need to make in order to bring peace.
And that’s where the fear of the Lord comes in. It’s this heart attitude that says, “You know God is right. The alternative here is continuing in this mess. The alternative here is facing God’s judgement for this one day.”
Receiving the wisdom of God into our lives isn’t always easy. In fact a lot of the time, it’s incredibly tough. It’s something that we don’t want to do, because we want to wallow in our immaturity, in our pride, in our … let me call it for what it is … sin.
But your Father in Heaven has, sitting ready and waiting for you, the wisdom of the ages. A wisdom that will utterly transform your life. A wisdom that, day by day, will set you free to be all He made you to be.
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