Ouch. Just when I think I’m starting to become wise, I’ve lost it. Much like being humble: when you think you are great at being humble - oops! - you’re not being humble anymore. {sigh} Something I read yesterday pointed out that we try to simplify faith so that it will fit into a tidy little box. That got me thinking. God won’t fit in a box. And while faith should be “childlike”, I don’t think that actually means it’s simple. I think what Jesus was teaching us there (Matthew 19:14) was that we will never be capable of understanding all the complexities of God and heaven and faith, so we should stop trying so hard to figure it all out and just be content to love and trust him.1 Corinthians 3:18:
“Do not deceive yourselves.
If any one of you thinks he is
wise by the standards of this age,
he should become a “fool”
so that he may become wise.”
When we think we’re wise, we’re fooling ourselves. I know God has given me more wisdom than I once had, and I’m soooo thankful for that. There’s no telling what kind of trouble I’m likely to have gotten myself into without it. But I also pray each day for wisdom in parenting, in how to be a better wife, and so on… I know that real wisdom only comes from God. Not from education at the best schools, not even from life experience. A person can have LOTS of life experience and yet not gain any wisdom from it because they aren’t relying on God for that wisdom. That’s what this verse is telling me. It doesn’t matter how smart or educated or experienced I am in the things of this world; it’s all foolishness. When I admit that I don’t know it all, and I’m never going to know it all, only then can I begin to become truly wise. Admiting that I will never know it all allows me to trust God to lead me - because he does know it all!
