Words of Wisdom (Part 1)

The Sovereign Lord gives me his words of wisdom

so that I know how to comfort others.

Morning by morning he awakens me and

opens my understanding to his will.

Isaiah 50:4

This verse was in the passage that I read this morning in my daily Bible reading.  I was struck by it's simple yet profound wisdom.  Each day is an opportunity for to know the Lord more and more.  We've all heard of the importance of having a daily quiet time.  However, I wonder if many of us miss the mark - seeing quiet time as our Christian duty, rushing through it so that we can check it off our to-do list.  Quiet time with God is also the first casualty of our busy schedules.  Somehow we think it's okay to shorten it or skip it altogether when our days are hectic.

The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race;

he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,if anyone seeks God.

Psalm 14:2 & Psalm 53:2   

God knows our hearts.  He knows our thoughts.  He knows our deepest secrets.  He even knows the number of hairs on our heads.  He knew us BEFORE we were born - BEFORE we were in our mother's womb.(Jeremiah 1:4-6) He knows us so intimately, but in comparison, we know so little about Him. But that is our own fault, not His.  He tells us of who He is in His Word.  He even sent His very own Son in a human body to show us who He is.  And though our finite minds cannot ascertain all of who He is, He has revealed who He is in terms we can understand and accept by faith.  All creation speaks to His glory!  He is a great and magnificent God yet we blow right on by Him in our day.  Seeing our time with Him as merely a speed bump slowing us down.  We reduce our time with him to no more than a check mark off our Christian to-do list.  We may read our Bible.  We may pray.  We may listen and sing along to Christian praise music.  We may go to church.  We may do all the things we think a good little Christian girl or boy should do.  But do we TRULY seek Him in our day each and every day?  Psalm 14:2 and 53:2 says that God looks down from heaven on the entire human race to see if ANYONE is truly wise - if ANYONE is seeking Him.  I wonder if He has to strain his eyes to find even one person who truly seeks Him?  Verse 3 of these passages seems to suggest that He does.

But no, all have turned away;

all have become corrupt.

No one does good,

not a single one!

Psalm 14:3 & 53:3

It's sad to say that we, God's children, tend to blow Him off at times.  We don't always take the time to truly seek Him.  We live each day as though our lives will continue the same way forever.  We 'notice' God but do we really stop to visit with Him in a meaningful way.  Or do we treat Him like our quirky relative that we dutifully visit at holidays - tolerating our time with Him until we can get away!  So often we approach His HOLY and MAGNIFICENT THRONE with a "GIMME" attitude.  Though He does want us to lay our requests before Him, He desires more of us than we often give!  He LOVES us so perfectly.  That fact, in and of itself, should be cause enough for our hearts to DESIRE HIM more than anything or anyone else!

And when we do make time for God, do we really listen? Amazingly, our quiet times aren't always so quiet - we end up doing all of the talking!  We can't seem to shut up long enough for God to get a word in edgewise!  No wonder we can't always understand what He's trying to tell us!  Our time with God should be a balance of quality and quantity.  We should make time to revel in His glory, adore Him, to get to know Him, to read His Word prayerfully, seeking Him, praying, worshipping, medititating, and then being still before Him.  Our time with God should be a two way conversation between a Father and His child.  But unlike children of this world, we need to listen and take to heart what our Father is telling us.  AND...our quiet time doesn't have to end when we get off of our knees.  We can "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) throughout our day.

Let me phrase it this way.  Do you remember how you felt when you first fell in love?  Do you remember how your thoughts centered on that person, almost to the point of obsession?  Do you remember how much love you felt for that person and how your heart flutterred at the very thought of him or her?  When you were apart, how much you missed him or her?  You just couldn't get enough of them.  Your life revolved around that person.  On a deeper, more spiritual level, we can be in love with our wonderful Lord!  He loves us so deeply and DESIRES US!  Our quiet time should be like spending time with someone we love!  Our alone time with God should be a result of our LOVE for Him - our desire for more of Him - our delighting in HIS company!  As a natural outflow of our love for the Lord, our thoughts become fixated on Him! We develope a healthy obsession of 'being in love' with Him!    

Only when we seek Him with our whole hearts will we hear and understand His words of wisdom.  He will open our understanding to His Will.  And that's a most marvelous thing!

In His Love, Cathy