Wisdom is a precious commodity. Everyone wants it. Not everyone has it. Knowledge and wisdom often get interchanged, but, in my opinion, they are very different. Knowledge is simply “knowing,” information storage, gained through education, studying, reading, memorizing, etc. Wisdom, on the other hand, has to do with insight. It is applying knowledge in everyday life, understanding how to use that knowledge effectively to make sound judgments. Knowledge is knowing that the stove burner is hot whereas wisdom is not putting your hand on that hot burner.

Having wisdom is important for navigating the treacherous roads of life, and finding the proper source of that wisdom is of paramount importance. The Bible tells us that human wisdom is foolishness – “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1 Corinthians 3:18-19). And since God is the creator of all wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-31), it seems prudent (wise) to tap into his wisdom above all other sources.

How do we gain God’s wisdom? I believe it comes by the Holy Spirit helping us understand the ways and works of God. It comes by spending time with God and in His Word. It comes by prioritizing our walk with God; a walk that begins by putting our faith in Jesus Christ. I see God as the initiator, Jesus as the implementer, and the Spirt and the energizer of faith and everything that comes in and through that faith.

Proverbs 3 is a wonderful chapter that gives us the rewards (blessings) of seeking and having proper wisdom, the wisdom of God. We find this challenge and promise in vv.5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He with make your paths straight.”

To me, those verses say to not try figuring out life solely with human wisdom, but instead, tap into the true source of wisdom, and by doing so, you can find “true north,” which will greatly help in navigating life. Notice these verses do not say you can avoid all turbulence by having this wisdom. In fact, Jesus tells us that life is full of rough air (John 16:33). Nor do I think Solomon was saying to ignore wise counsel from others. God sometimes speaks to us through other people. The primary way God guides us in through his Word and he never guides contrary to what is found in His Word, so discernment (wisdom) is needed when hearing from others.

As I stated, Proverbs 3 lists a number of “godly wisdom” rewards. Here is just a sampling – healing for your body, refreshment to your bones (v.8), your barns will be filled with plenty, your vats overflowing with new wine (10), God’s wisdom is better than silver, fine gold, more precious than jewels (14-15), your foot will not stumble (23), your sleep will be sweet (24). I think you would be wise to read the entire chapter. To do so, click here.

Do you lack God’s wisdom? Do you need more of God’s wisdom? Right now, what decision are you about to make that requires a dose of God’s wisdom? Here is what we find in James 1:5 – “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” As I always do, I encourage you to read this verse in its context (James 1:1-8).

Are you looking to the true source of wisdom?

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On a daily basis we engage in many activities – sleeping and waking, going to school or work, sitting in from of our computers, taxiing kids, caring for aging parents, exercising, watching TV, grocery shopping, household chores, the list goes on and on.

And throughout the day you also find yourself repeatedly getting hungry. This is your body’s way of triggering the normal physiological need to eat. Eating provides our bodies with the fuel and energy needed to remain healthy and active. There is another sensation other than hunger also associated with eating; the desire to eat, called appetite. Sometimes our desire to eat is due to hunger, other times, simply because we’ve seen or smelled appealing foods. What causes us to feel hungry? When you eat, the hormone leptin is released into your body, causing a decrease in the motivation to eat. As your body begins to run low on fuel, leptin levels decrease, triggering another hormone (ghrelin) to be released, increasing your sensation of hunger.   

It is our appetite (desire to eat) that so often gets us into trouble, not our hunger (need to eat.) Next time you say that you are “hungry,” ask yourself if it is your body telling you it needs refueled, or is it just a craving, habit, the availability of food, or some other social or emotional factor?

Scripture tells us that we should be hungry for reading and digesting God’s Word. We need to regularly ingest (take it in, absorb it) scripture in order to digest it (use it for our benefit). When God was instructing Joshua about how the Israelites would take possession of the Promised Land, He included an important instruction to Joshua. Here is what we read in Joshua 1:8 – “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Jesus called himself the “bread of life” (John 6:32-35), promising that whoever comes to Him will never be hungry or thirsty. In what are known at the Beatitudes, Jesus says this – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6)” “Hunger and thirst” vividly expresses a deep longing. It is more than just a casual desire; it is an active desire. The Greek word used in this verse for filled is “chortazo;” which comes from the root word for a place where grasses grow and animals go to graze. The image is “to feed with herbs, grass, hay, to fill, satisfy with food, to fatten.” It implies filled to the point of being satisfied.

After Jesus had fasted in the wilderness, Satan, just as he does with us, tempted Jesus at his point of weakness (hunger). Here is what we read – “And after fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread’” (Matthew 4:2-3). Satan suggested to Jesus that he (Jesus) had the power to satisfy his own needs. But Jesus did not take the bait. Instead, he boldly responded, quoting directly from Scripture – “But he answered, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the every word that comes from the mouth of God’’” (v.4). Jesus was pointing back to when God fed manna to the Israelites in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:3). We must recognize our utter dependence on God’s word.

As a side note – After Jesus had refused to satisfy his hunger by miraculously turning stones into bread, we see in v.11 that he is fed supernaturally by angels who ministered to him.      

If we hunger and thirst after the right things, we are promised to be filled (Isaiah 55:1-2).

So today, I ask you two questions – What are you hungry for? And are you hungry for the right things?

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Summer’s unofficial kickoff, Memorial Day weekend, is here. For many, that means celebrating the holiday with family or friends. You might be one of those, maybe traveling to another city or simply walking down the street to a neighborhood gathering.

The host of the picnic has asked each guest to bring a dish to share. Amid greasy burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, deviled eggs, baked beans, and potato chips, you decide to add a healthy option to the food table: spinach and strawberry salad. You put the spinach in a bowl and add crumbled feta cheese, sliced fresh strawberries, onions, and walnuts. For the dressing you mix some white wine vinegar, olive oil, chopped fresh basil leaves, sugar, salt and pepper. Right before the meal you pour the vinaigrette dressing over the salad, tossing it all together.

Once mixed and tossed into the salad, no part of the salad is untouched by the dressing. It fully coats all the ingredients – the spinach leaves, strawberries, onions, and the walnuts. Now I want you to keep that image of fully coated in mind.

Maybe you are not the picnic type, but instead are heading to your local swimming pool or nearby beach town. If either of those is you, then consider this image – fully coating yourself in sunscreen in order to avoid sunburn and skin damage.

If you are a follower of Jesus, He wants to be in, to touch, every part of our lives. He needs to be in us, and with us, not just on Sundays, but also Monday through Saturday. Not just in the good, but also in the not so good. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus desires to fully coat us. He wants to give us wisdom as we decide on a career or which college to attend. He wants to give us peace as we sit in the doctor’s office looking at those spots on our kidney. He wants to help you and me walk away from the water cooler chatter that has turned to gossip and slander. He wants to be in our addictions, bad relationships, stupid choices, messed up finances.

He wants to be in it all! And the truth is, nothing is hidden from God anyway. Want proof? – Hebrews 4:13; Job 28:24, 34:21; Proverbs 5:21; Psalm 14:2. There is great freedom and hope in the reality that the Triune God sees us and knows us, and wants nothing more than to be intensely intimate with us! Not to ridicule or demean, but rather, to lead, guide, and direct, helping us become the people He so desires us to be.

Psalm 139 is good place to see this intimate relationship we have with Jesus. The psalm begins with these words, “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely” (vv. 1-4).

A few verses later we see this question, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (v.7). We then get the answer in verses 8-10, “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand with guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

I now encourage you to read Psalm 139 in its entirety. It is such an encouraging chapter. It paints a beautiful picture of God’s intimate and pervasive presence in our lives! You might be familiar with these well-known words but didn’t know they are found in this psalm – “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

So, I ask you today, are you only allowing Jesus to touch certain places and keeping Him out of others, or are inviting Him to be the “dressing on your salad” or the “sunscreen on your exposed skin,” fully coating and touching every aspect of your life?

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I don’t know about you, but from my vantage point, the world is spinning faster and faster. Dizzyingly fast. Out of control fast. At times, it is hard to hold things together. The image that comes to mind is of that piece of playground equipment we all loved, until we didn’t. Yes, you guessed it, the merry-go-round. Everyone jumped on and invariably one kid always yelled “faster!” Soon, it was spinning faster and faster and the centrifugal force was trying to throw you off, but you hung on to the handles ever so tightly.

Everything around you became blurry. The coins that you had planned to use to buy a candy bar from the apothecary flew out of your pocket and landed somewhere on the ground. After the merry-go-round finally came to a stop you were dizzy, disoriented, and maybe even a little sick in your stomach. What you ate for breakfast was dangerously close to coming back up. But soon you were back on that merry-go-round, once again going faster.

Due to the stroke I suffered in 2021, I find it challenging to hold things together. My brain gets easily overstimulated. Environments with lots of activity, oh my, not my brain’s favorite thing. Nor does it like sudden noises or movements. Change in plans and the unexpected create consternation. I am continuing to learn new ways to compensate for my neurological and cognitive deficiencies. It is a journey that I will be on for whatever time I have left on this earth.

Thankfully, though, I don’t have to hold it together alone. I have family and friends who help keep me from spinning too fast or too often. And even better, I have a God who, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is the best glue known to mankind. Before I go further, can I offer this – with God the Father as the initiator of faith, through Jesus Christ as the implementer of that faith, and by the Holy Spirit as the faith energizer, we are in good hands, the absolute best hands possible.  

In Colossians 1:15-20, we find seven “all” statements, each pertaining to Jesus. Let me quickly mention five, then dive deeper into the other two. Notice three right out of the gate: Jesus is the image of God and the firstborn of all creation (v.15), in him all things were created (v.16a), and all things were created through and for him (v.16b). These six verses end with two more: all of God’s fullness dwells in Jesus (v.19), and Jesus is the agent for all salvation (v.20). Just those promises alone should give us great comfort as we journey through life.

But, today, let me focus on the final two “alls,” both found in v.17 – “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Elsewhere, we find similar words. Among other things, Hebrews 1:3 tells that Jesus “upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

These powerful and true “all” statements bring to the forefront the supremacy, centrality, and preeminence (surpass all others) of Jesus. His involvement in creation is exhaustive. He holds not just you and me, but all of mankind, together. Everything in the world, history, present, future, it is all upheld by Jesus.

When things are orderly and when things are spinning out of control, or anywhere in between, there is never a single day, never a single moment in time, that Jesus does not hold things together. Right now, and always, even if it does not feel like it, you are being wonderfully held together. Let that promise of God penetrate to your deepest places.

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With the unofficial start of summer just days away, I begin to think about trips to one of my favorite places. You have planned a day at the beach. The sun is shining and there is not a cloud in the sky. You have your beach chair and umbrella, sunscreen, your favorite book, and a cooler with food and beverage.

Once you arrive, you see the beach lined with yellow flags. These flags are part of a standardized warning system used by coastal communities to notify beachgoers of potential water hazards. The most common beach warning flags are green, yellow, or red, indicating low, medium, or high hazard. A double red flag means that the ocean is closed to swimmers, and purple flags indicate the presence of dangerous marine life. So, unless you want to star in the next Jaws movie, it is advisable to stay out of the water when you see purple.  

In addition to warning flags, many beach resorts have lifeguards to maintain beach safety and rescue swimmers who are in danger. Even with lifeguards and warning flags to notify you of the potential water hazards, you still need to always be aware of the surf conditions because of the unpredictability of the water and the waves. The tide comes in then goes out. The water isn’t even up to your knees then suddenly it is over your head.

One wave gently tosses you around and you are having fun. But, the next wave, it is a really big one, and the force of the water flips you upside down, pounding you into the ocean floor.  You come up, pulling your bathing suit from places it should not be or readjusting your suit to cover body parts that should not be on public display, wondering why the lifeguard did not warn you of the rough seas.

Life can be the same way. One minute things are calm and peaceful and then without notice, a big wave (or two or three or four) comes and turns life upside down. You sometimes lose your breath and find yourself disoriented from all the pounding you are taking. You feel as if you are being pulled further and further from shore with no one to rescue you. While ocean rip currents can be very dangerous if you get caught in one, they are not easily detected from the shore. Life’s rip currents are also sometimes not easily detected, until you find yourself caught in one, quickly being pulled away from the shoreline. 

The Bible tells us that when, from your vantage point, even when you are being turned upside down, seemingly being pulled further away from dry land, that God has things under control and He can calm the waves in your life. Psalm 89:9 tells us this, “You rule over the surging sea; when the waves mount up, you still them.” We see a similar message in Psalm 107:29, “He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Sometimes God calms the waves and other times He calms you in the waves. Either way, regardless of the color of the flag, you can always trust that God is in the lifeguard chair!  

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This weekend you might be planning to do some work around your house to get it ready for that Memorial Day picnic you are hosting. On the list are both putting down some new deck boards as well as mulching and planting flowers. You’ve checked the forecast; it looks like gorgeous weather. Sunny but not too hot.

Before you begin, you stop and your local lawn and garden store. It is jam packed with people buying flowers and plants, topsoil, mulch, decking materials, new weed whackers, anything and everything needed to do some work around the yard to get it ready for summer.

While you are hammering away on the deck, your spouse is busy in the flower beds. Regardless of the work you plan to do, you need tools, and not just any tools, but the proper tools, to complete the project. Your toolbox is filled with hand tools and power tools while the wheelbarrow has a trowel, shovel, soil cultivator, hoe, dibber, and the flowers to plant. If you are a gardener, you know what a dibber is. (If not, then Google it.) 

All around the neighborhood people are hard at work. You see several neighbors planting flowers and filling wheelbarrows with mulch. The sounds of lawn mowers and pressure washers fill the air. Somewhere nearby, someone is cooking burgers on their charcoal grill and boy does that make you hungry.

Having and using the proper tools and implements helps make the job easier. You make them work for you. We often view the Bible in that same way; we see it as some sort of spiritual toolbox. We want to take things out of Scripture and make them work for us, just like those carpentry or gardening tools. However, we do not use Scripture, but, instead, God uses Scripture to change us and carry out His will and His plan in and through us.

The process of becoming more like Jesus means that we come before God, who becomes present to us in and through the Bible. And, it is through His Word that we begin to be transformed. Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us that the Bible is what we are to use to calibrate, measure, and judge our thoughts and attitudes. We read, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all of creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (NIV).” (When I was in Vineyard’s ministry school, this was the first verse we had to memorize. It emphasizes the transformative nature of God’s Word, and in my opinion is pivotal to how we approach and understand scripture.)

In The Message, the contemporary rending of the Bible written by Eugene Peterson, Jesus’ words found in John 5:39-40 reads like this – “You have your heads in your Bibles, constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And I here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.”

So, are you allowing God to use His Word to continually retool and remanufacture you?

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