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Importuning God
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I ask God for wisdom because he bids us ask (James 1). Sometime I am perplexed as to why I am not more wise. There seems to be no end of having to ask: I am constantly at his mercy, back at his door every day for a new favor.
My friend Jayne said that this is all good, and not to be regarded as though something had failed. She said that what we tend to want when asking for wisdom is our own private cache of it; we want to own wisdom as a commodity — so that we won’t have to go and ask again!
But that would make us like Simon the Sorcerer, who saw the gift of the Holy Spirit in action and lusted for it, and would fain plunk down money to own it and be done with the inconvenient business of humbly seeking God for it daily.
Any wish to possess God’s gift without God is a Bible definition of “idolatry.” Any wish to be independent of God is not in His design for us. God is interested in relationship. He wants to be asked for things. How wonderful is that! Who else do you know who actually wants to be importuned by you day and night for favors?
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A matter of life
What an encouragement to remember that God actually
WANTS to be importuned by me day and night for favors…. Praise the Lord!
Why do I forget that so easily??
(the wanting part)
The key to obtaiing wisdom it to desire it. The fatherly author of Proverbs spent a lot of time just trying to get his readers to want wisdom above other earthly desires.
Here are two key aspects of the wisdom we read about in the Bible:
1. Wisdom begins with the fear of God. Thus, faith is a key component of real wisdom.
2. Wisdom must translate into personal morality (goodness). Listen to the apostle James: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” James 3:13.
So, wisdom begins when we get on our knees to importune God for it, but it does not keep us there. Wisdom calls us to rise in action for the good of others.
First of all, I absolutely love reading your essays in each magazine we receive. I appreciate your transparency and wisdom so much!
That said, I find myself once again nodding while reading your post, and feel quite the same in regards to my lack of wisdom even though I desire it so much - and ask for it so frequently.
Perhaps, even though it is wisdom I covet, having to ask again and again for it, what God really wants to teach me is far better. Something like humility (ouch) and as you said, relationship - mostly for ME to desire HIM - as well as the wisdom.
Making our requests known to God is God’s requisite for giving us His peace—always the answer, whether we get the thing we prayed about or not.
as to your “Where are the men?” article; I believe in teaching the doctrines of the Word. Playing church with 20-30 minutes of repetitious musical choruses can’t possibly be as pleasing to the Lord as His own preserved Word.
PS. Love your writing. Have many questions
As I stumble through the broken glass of life screaming Hallelujah, I am often reminded that I focus on the gift and not the giver. I could claim my desire for wisdom like Solomon and draw conclusions of the lessons learned by Solomon’s example but I won’t be that trite. What I really desire is the wisdom of Paul. The simple answer is I don’t have the faith of Paul to wield the wisdom he so generously possessed.
As I struggle with the concept that I lack the faith to posses such a powerful gift, I am dragged back to Paul and shown that we all fall short of the glory. Having realized that, I stand up, brush my knees off and start running through the broken glass of life screaming Hallelujah. Does that make me obtuse? Just saying…
I asked God for wisdom, what he gave me were trials, tests, challenges, and opportunities. The first bit of wisdom I learned was that God is into process.
#7, that was beautifully expressed.