God put this on my heart to share as something I've walked through especially the past few years. I wasn't sure what to call this process but the words "reflective wisdom" came to mind and pretty much fits the bill I think. What I want to say is this... I believe in life there are two ways to learn wisdom. The first one is through your own experience. What I mean by that is that a certain type of wisdom can be learnt by you going through something in life and then looking back on the events and choosing to approach the same matter differently the next time that set of circumstances presents itself again. I would call that "adaptive wisdom". It's the ability to learn from your mistakes and failures and to move forward gleaning a new perspective on the same problem. If you read the book of Proverbs in the Bible it covers this type of wisdom quite a lot. God often uses things like this in our lives to help us to learn and grow. Think of when you're hammering a nail into wood and you hit your thumb with the hammer. Pain tells you it hurts and to avoid doing the same action of smashing your thumb again. It's a natural process of humans to avoid pain and learn from it.
It might be you getting a huge $400 speeding fine while driving to teach you the value of others lives and to respect the law. The same thing might even be a "wake up call" to help you to grow up, get control of your anger and not treat life and others so recklessly. I know for me that when these types of things happen my first response is to be very upset but later if I choose to submit to the Spirit of God it brings me to a place of thankfulness and repentance. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "repentance" it simply means to turn around and change. Wisdom is gained when repentance is given place in our lives. Put simply, when we get to a place in our mind that we foolishly think "we are always right" then we no longer learn and wisdom begins to die. You see, Wisdom is not a set of trophies on a shelf - a much better way to explain wisdom is that it's organic like a muscle. If it isn't used daily - it starts to weaken and then die. Now, the second way to learn wisdom is even more valuable than the first. Have you ever wondered why in the Bible and especially the Old Testament that there are so many stories of people doing the wrong thing and suffering for it?
King David and his sin of murder and adultery is a good example. King Solomon and the greed that corrupted his heart is another. Cain hating his brother which led to murder is another. The list goes on and on of the people that chose poorly and paid dearly for it. I'll tell you why there are so many stories like this... God wants us to learn from their mistakes. This is the second type of wisdom - reflective wisdom. It's the ability to see the pain and hardship that others have in their lives caused by poor decisions and to choose to avoid that path yourself. Now please understand my heart on this - this is most certainly not an excuse to judge and condemn others - instead its the process of discerning what happens in others lives and deciding to avoid having that happen to you. The book of Proverbs in the Bible talks about this kind of wisdom even more that the first type. It says in Proverbs 7:4 to "Treat wisdom as your sister, and insight as your closest friend." Many think this is just a clever analogy but I completely disagree. Wisdom is not just a collection of knowledge or a string of good decisions.
Wisdom is an entity. It's a Spirit that is given by God. Check out Ephesians1:17 if you don't believe me. So what I'm really wanting to say today for all who want to hear it is this... God wants to give you wisdom for your life to help you, to guide you, to teach you and to keep you. All you have to do is ask. He has no special respect or partiality for anyone down here - He sees us all the same and gives generously to all who ask. Just remember, God's wisdom is not like the wisdom of this world. It will often go contrary to what many others may say and think but the outcome of God's wisdom is always peace. God loves you.
It might be you getting a huge $400 speeding fine while driving to teach you the value of others lives and to respect the law. The same thing might even be a "wake up call" to help you to grow up, get control of your anger and not treat life and others so recklessly. I know for me that when these types of things happen my first response is to be very upset but later if I choose to submit to the Spirit of God it brings me to a place of thankfulness and repentance. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "repentance" it simply means to turn around and change. Wisdom is gained when repentance is given place in our lives. Put simply, when we get to a place in our mind that we foolishly think "we are always right" then we no longer learn and wisdom begins to die. You see, Wisdom is not a set of trophies on a shelf - a much better way to explain wisdom is that it's organic like a muscle. If it isn't used daily - it starts to weaken and then die. Now, the second way to learn wisdom is even more valuable than the first. Have you ever wondered why in the Bible and especially the Old Testament that there are so many stories of people doing the wrong thing and suffering for it?
King David and his sin of murder and adultery is a good example. King Solomon and the greed that corrupted his heart is another. Cain hating his brother which led to murder is another. The list goes on and on of the people that chose poorly and paid dearly for it. I'll tell you why there are so many stories like this... God wants us to learn from their mistakes. This is the second type of wisdom - reflective wisdom. It's the ability to see the pain and hardship that others have in their lives caused by poor decisions and to choose to avoid that path yourself. Now please understand my heart on this - this is most certainly not an excuse to judge and condemn others - instead its the process of discerning what happens in others lives and deciding to avoid having that happen to you. The book of Proverbs in the Bible talks about this kind of wisdom even more that the first type. It says in Proverbs 7:4 to "Treat wisdom as your sister, and insight as your closest friend." Many think this is just a clever analogy but I completely disagree. Wisdom is not just a collection of knowledge or a string of good decisions.
Wisdom is an entity. It's a Spirit that is given by God. Check out Ephesians1:17 if you don't believe me. So what I'm really wanting to say today for all who want to hear it is this... God wants to give you wisdom for your life to help you, to guide you, to teach you and to keep you. All you have to do is ask. He has no special respect or partiality for anyone down here - He sees us all the same and gives generously to all who ask. Just remember, God's wisdom is not like the wisdom of this world. It will often go contrary to what many others may say and think but the outcome of God's wisdom is always peace. God loves you.
[ James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ]
