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 your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
The Book of Proverbs admonishes us all to be “seekers of wisdom” from God and His Word. How does a person go about becoming wise and full of understanding? The Bible teaches us that it all starts in our heart with the “want to” desire to please God and know Him and His ways better; without this “want to” in us, we will likely not pay the price necessary to actually grow in the ways of God. This desire has nothing to do with natural intelligence as there are many very smart, educated and intellectual people in the world who are really just fools proven by their choices. The Book of Proverbs tells us to seek wisdom at all costs, and that it is far more valuable than gold or silver as it pays eternal dividends, and not just worldly comforts. Now before we get any further, let us ask ourselves “do we want to know God’s ways and will, and will we sacrifice to find it?” It will cost us our pride and ego to acknowledge that God knows better than we do, and that we must rely on His revelations in scripture rather than our common sense or feelings of what is right. God sees the beginning and the end of all things while we do not. Jesus said in Matthew 10:39 that we must lose our life to find it in Him. We must put God and His will first, not ours, and then God reveals things to us as they truly are with His wisdom. This does not mean we will understand everything perfectly well, but it means we will know what His will is for us in a situation so we can live righteously and honor Him. God wants us to live rightly more than we want to live rightly, and that is the problem; we are largely in it for ourselves, and not to bring glory to God. When we finally put God first as we are commanded to do in Matthew 6:33, God can then direct us for His eternal purposes. It all starts here in the “desires of our heart”! God has to bring us to the end of living just for ourselves, and get us to seeking to fulfill the two greatest commandments of loving Him and other people as the foremost concern of our existence. If Christ is our Lord and Savior, we have His Spirit living in us to lead and empower us to bring this into reality for our lives; we also have God’s Word to give us clear direction on the purposes of God. Do we want His will to be our will? Do we want it badly enough to devote ourselves to prayer and Bible study each day so God can speak to us and direct us? Our choices in life and priorities tell the story far better than what we say. If we truly desire God’s wisdom in our life, let us put His will first and seek with great devotion to find it by prayer and study of His Word. We then must step out in faith and trust and obey God as He leads us in order to see Him work powerfully in our circumstances. It is both the challenge and the promise of God before us all!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Gary Houdek