Gaining the Wisdom of God

You cannot keep people

from rejecting you.

But you can keep rejection from

enraging.

--Max Lucado (A Love Worth Giving)

 

Gaining the Wisdom of God

Bayless Conley

I think every Christian desires wisdom from God. But they don't get it because they don't understand how to receive it.


In Psalm 51:6, we are told,


...in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.


When God communicates His wisdom to us, He does it in that secret part. Whether it's as we read His Word and a Scripture speaks to us, or whether the Holy Spirit just whispers to us. As Proverbs 20:27 tells us, The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord. In other words, God illuminates us through our spirit.


For example, maybe you are in a difficult financial situation and you just don't know what to do. You are working, you are tithing, you are trusting God, you are doing all you need to do, but it seems like you can't make ends meet.


Maybe what you need is wisdom. If you ask for it, God may speak something as simple to your heart as, "Go talk to this person." Or, "Advertise in this magazine." Or, "Call so-and-so and ask them to forgive you for the way you treated them." Or He may just say, "Hold steady."


Shortly after I was saved, I developed a physical condition I could not get any relief from. So I went to God and I said, "God, give me wisdom." God spoke to me and said, "You need to stop drinking coffee."


Now I did not want to hear that because I was a big coffee drinker. But you know what? After obeying God in that, almost immediately, that condition cleared up, and it has never been back.


God's wisdom. He will speak to you. If you ask, He will make His wisdom known in the hidden part.


Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God.

Shattered Dreams

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman

06-23-2011

"Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband." (Ruth 1:3-5).


Naomi's life was going well. A great husband. Two fine sons who had two wonderful wives. Then the unthinkable happened. Her husband died. A little time later both her sons die. Her and her daughter-in-laws find themselves in the midst of shattered dreams. This isn't how life was supposed to be.


How did Naomi react to her situation? "...for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!" (Ruth 1:13). Ah, we see her true feelings about the situation. "How could a loving God let this happen?!" "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?" (Ruth 1:20-21).


Mara means bitter. She knew where she was. She was bitter toward this so called God of love. "How can I possibly reconcile this?!" No life insurance. No widow?s fund. "What is going to happen to me and my daughters?"


The Bible says the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. Naomi and Ruth move to a community where some of her relatives lived. Ruth goes out to work in the fields to put food on the table. She just so happens to work in the field of a wealthy farmer named Boaz. When Ruth tells her this the first ray of hope penetrates her bitter heart. Even she can recognize the hand of God.


So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz. Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!?" (Ruth 2:19-20).


Hebrew custom was for the next in kin to care for the widow in the family. Boaz was to be this man. He would eventually marry Ruth. She would bare a son, Obed. He would be the father of Jesse, the father of David. Jesus would come firm the same lineage.


Shattered dreams often lead to a world-impacting destiny. But getting there is often a process where we must work through honest feelings before we can see the God who redeems even the most devastating shattered dream.





Today's Prayer

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. ~ Psalm 91:11-12. God, this is one of my favorite comforts from Your Word. I pray and trust that You will command Your angels concerning me, my family, my friends, my pastors and their families, that through Your power and Your command guardian angels will be round about to protect us and lift us up so that we will not strike our feet against stones. Please protect us from all harm and evil. Help us remain pure and devoted to You. And for those I know and love who are fighting addictions of various types, I pray that You would give them strength and power to overcome and that guardian angels will protect them and keep them from stumbling. In the name of Jesus I pray and give You thanks, amen.


Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.



APPLICATION Are you young and looking for something to believe in? Are you older and looking for God's hand anew? God answers both needs. Look to him and no further.



EXPLORATION Encouragement and Examples for Old and Young- Psalm 119:9; Proverbs 16:31; Ecclesiastes 11:9; 12:1; Isaiah 46:4; Lamentations 3:27; 1 Timothy 4:12; Titus 2:2-3.