How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. (Proverbs 16:16 ESV) Last week I wrote about listening to advice in order to gain wisdom. An obvious question in response is, … Continue reading
Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. (Proverbs 19:20 ESV) To seek wisdom is necessarily to look to the future. Any young (or relatively young) person claiming to be wise is more likely … Continue reading
I’m feeling a bit stuck at the moment. My notebook contains four partially-written blog posts that just aren’t quite right. There are over 30 draft posts in varying states of not-readiness on my blog admin panel, but none of it … Continue reading
As I have been turning Proverbs 3:5-6 over in my mind this week and considering the situation in Haiti, it is clear that in this life we must live with incompleteness. Deuteronomy 29:29 shows that we not only have limited capacity for knowledge, but also God has chosen to reveal only certain knowledge to us.
We desire to know all, to probe the deep wisdom and knowledge of God (Romans 11:33-34) thinking that by complete knowledge we will be masters of life (see Genesis 3:6 and Genesis 11:4). While we ask why God caused the earthquake and demand an explanation for why relief is not provided faster, this is really a reaction out of our sinful nature.
There are different ways of questioning God, one is effectively saying, “See if God is love, or even exists at all, this would not have happened.” But God is not obliged to provide answers regardless of what tantrums the godless throw. Others groan with compassion, “O God, why must the poor suffer even more?” This is not unlike the cries of the prophets and psalmists.
Can we live in compassionate incompleteness?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
This morning I was reading Isaiah 50:10-11, in which the Messiah sustains the weary with the words of his mouth. Those who listen and obey his words are able to trust in God, whereas those who light their own torches and rely upon themselves and their own sophisticated ideas of wisdom and knowledge will end lying down in torment.
The connection I see with Proverbs 3:5-6 is that every time I come to the word of God I have a choice; whether to accept that God is infinitely wise and has something important to communicate in what I am reading, or to decide for myself what is important and what is not. If I trust the Lord with all my heart I will submit my will to what He commands rather than layering my own ideas of how God ‘should’ be over the top of what is written in scripture. I need to acknowledge God in all my ways, not just the ones which I don’t mind Him adjusting.
Some (actually many) of my ways do not acknowledge God, the reason for this is that I do not fully trust in Him. In fact I mostly trust in myself, with God as the backup when I can’t cope. Therefore it is not surprising that He does not make all my ways straight, my ways are bent and crooked due to sin.
Until I am utterly convinced that God knows best and I do not, I will be doomed to walk on crooked paths which lead to torment.
