Devotionals Detail

Reading: Proverbs 1:1-7

2 For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, 3 for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; 4 to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young— 5 let the wise, too, hear and gain in learning and the discerning acquire skill, 6 to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

There are so many ways that we think we are wise: our own perspective, our own experience, our own knowledge, what our life has taught us. Certainly we gain information from those portions of our lives, as it is our only perspective– but is that wise? We may have decades of experience in a profession or a task, but do we have confidence that these skills give us wisdom? We may have read upon a topic but do we have wisdom that invites us to a depth of understanding? Wisdom comes from a deeper place than who we are and our personal life experience.

Wisdom is more than what we know – it is part of the Spirit’s movement in our lives. Wisdom comes from experiences beyond explanation and knowledge beyond knowing. And it starts with recognizing our own lack: and therefore, God’s abundance.

We don’t like to recognize how little we have: naming our scarcity or our strategies for filling emptiness. Instead we say were a “fine” or “busy” or even “too blessed to be stressed,” to avoid the conversation. That is foolishness” according to the Bible. Instead, it is in the lack that we realize our true gain. Perhaps sitting with our loneliness, the experiences where we don’t understand, the knowledge that we can’t get, is where God’s real presence lies. Wisdom is relying on a holy experience bigger than our own.

For, our lack is God’s gain: by expressing our need for God, we express our wisdom. Our only purpose in this world is to reflect God’s love and to be the presence of that for others.

And we need God to do that. It is the hardest calling in the world…and yet the biggest honor.

So this week, in the moments of personal, national or international issues of questioning – when you are wondering – WHY? Let God’s mystery rest upon you and trust there is a wisdom beyond your own experience.