Wisdom

Wisdom has been a theme that I've been focusing on for the last year and I am continuing to study it this year as well.

As I've, ahem, gotten older, I realized that I am constantly in crazy situations or watching others go through crazy life experiences and that the world just seems to be getting more and more wacky and it seemed to be getting harder to navigate through it. I could definitely pin point some situations where my personal wisdom saved me from what could have been a potentially really bad situation but I also have found myself in situations that I wish I would have thought through better before I got myself in them.

Suffice it to say that when I was younger, most of what I learned about the Bible was based on facts. So and so wrote this book, did this, went there, then that happened, etc etc, here diagram the book of Revelation and now memorize this list of rules of how you are supposed to live and oh, NOW we are going to run some programs over here and this will save everyone and bring about world peace at the same time.

When you get out into the world and choose to live out your faith, that will only work up to a point because God didn't call us to live out a bunch of rules but to walk in faith through his grace.

I saw people around me, and myself included, struggling to solve life's problems. Grasping for understanding, I finally realized that I was going to be life's road kill if I didn't look harder for answers on how to handle the things life was throwing at me.

So after reading a book last year that encouraged it's readers to read a chapter of Proverbs a day for a year, I became intrigued by the subject of biblical wisdom.

Did I actually read a chapter of Proverbs a day for the year and gain insight and understanding?

No, I didn't.

Hey, I'm just being honest with you.

But through this last year, I did start thinking a lot more about wisdom. I know that doesn't totally count but it was a subject that I could not stop thinking about as I did my regular bible reading and listened to sermons. I am now at the point where I am reading a chapter of Proverbs a day and asking God to give me more wisdom and understanding about life and the world around me.

The nice thing about that is he gives wisdom to anyone who wants it.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.".....James 1:5 (NIV)

Here's to making better decisions in life!