God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Hello,

Today  I’d like to talk to you about the fact that we cannot understand the Lord using our intelligence- we need to go to His Word where He will impress upon our heart His Truth.

Many times, God’s ways do not make sense to us and may even seem odd. I’m not being irreverent here. God does not operate like a human being, He far surpasses us in all things and He has supernatural power to do anything.

Let me give a simplistic example to help explain why we need to trust the Lord and not our own limited thinking.

Most CEO’s don’t consult with the subordinates on details concerning the functioning of the organization. The CEO’s see the whole picture of the organization and therefore the management team makes the major decisions. It is the same with the Lord. His view of our lives encompasses minute details that we are unaware of. He is masterfully taking these details and sewing a beautiful tapestry for our lives when we obey Him. Trusting the Lord and being patient is the best thing we can do as we are waiting for prayers to be answered and God’s promises to come to fruition. (there are thousands of promises in the Bible- Google a list)

“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.”(Ps 9:10)

God teaches in the Bible that many of  His ways are mysterious and difficult to understand.  If we trust Him even when we can’t see Him and even when we can’t figure out how He is working- we are setting up God to show His power in our lives.

There is a story in the Bible about the Israelites going into the battle of Jericho. The Lord instructed them to march around the city once a day for six days and on the seventh day to march seven times around the city and blow their horns and shout- then the walls of the city of Jericho would fall down and the Israelites would win the battle. Now this is certainly one of the weirdest “battles” in the bible. No weapons and no use of strategy and intellect- simply marching and shouting!

Why would God ask the Israelites to do this? Plain and simply- obedience. Do we actually trust the Lord when we we hear weird and unbelievable things like this battle plan?

People who put God on the pedestal of their life simply don’t try to figure everything out- if God said it we need to trust it.  These are the individuals who will receive the best blessings in life. And these are the individuals that God will use to advance His kingdom.

No matter how intelligent we are, no matter how successful we are, and no matter how high on the hierarchy at our corporation- we still need to be humble and childlike with the Lord. God gave us our intelligence- God can take it away if we do not submit to Him and acknowledge His Lordship over all things.

“O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.”(Matt 11:25)

Being submissive to God rather than to our ideas and work ethic, is counterintuitive to those self help books that are read by the millions. Books like “Atomic Habits” and “Unlimited Power”and “Miracle Morning” tell us that it is up to us to work hard and create our own success. But God turns this philosophy on it’s head. He instructs us to spend time with Him first, prioritizing the Lord’s agenda over our own. God shouldn’t be thought about and prayed to only during emergencies. We have His “journal” so to speak and we can dive into it to see how He thinks. He will allow us to know many -although not all- of His perfect ways.

We can use some of the philosophy in those popular self help books to efficiently manage our time to accomplish more of our duties- but we cannot push God to a “Sunday” only position and expect our lives to run smoothly.

The Lord says, read My Book, follow my advice and you shall have the desires of your heart.(Ps 37:4) This will take our aspirations off the pedestal of our lives and put the Lord’s priorities there and this act alone will guarantee our success in life.

“It is vain for you to rise up early and stay up late to eat the bread of painful toil, for He gives sleep to His beloved.”(ps 127:2)

God’s ways are counterintuitive to human ways for a reason. If we say we have faith in Him we need to trust Him. It  doesn’t require much trust if we can figure everything out- does it? Like the Israelites in that crazy battle plan requiring marching and shouting- He likes us to step out without a sane plan – so to speak- knowing He is the one who will provide the perfect ending. If we can trust our Lord fully, we are on our way to a life of supernatural help in all situations as well as peace, joy and contentment. All it takes from us is to live within the confines of His perfect teachings.

Faith in God=trust in God=love for God

Food For Thought,

Lisa