Wisdom Gives

That’s right, wisdom gives. We do not just receive.

“¹⁷I love those who love me,

and those who seek me diligently find me.”

— Proverbs 8:17 (ESV)

Those who love us tend to give of themselves to ensure that we have what we need. We do the same for those we love. Above is wisdom speaking. Notice love is given and received. And, not only that but there is a genuineness to the love and what is given and received.

“¹⁸Riches and honor are with me,

enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,

and my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness,

in the paths of justice,

²¹granting an inheritance to those who love me,

and filling their treasuries.”

— Proverbs 8:18-21 (ESV)

We have to be careful when we think about the tangibleness of that which is given and received. When you quickly read verse 18 above, we have the idea that our lives will be filled with riches and wealth thanks to wisdom. The reality is that we gain the ability for those things. I know for myself, I seek wisdom and can say that to some degree I have been successful in finding it. But that said, I am not a wealthy man by monetary standards. Oh, I am not poor, but I do not have millions stored up. Even though, I have wealth that cannot be measured by societal standards.

I have been told that others are envious of my desire to learn, and more so my dissatisfaction with my process of learning when they can see that I have and do more learning than they can/are doing themselves. I thank them for their kindness and still internally I am still seeking wisdom every day. Not to get rich monetarily, but get rich in learning of and for the LORD.

You see, when we are seeking wisdom, we are able to find her. Why, because she wants to be found by those who are diligent in their seeking. Look back at verse 17 above and remember that it is wisdom speaking, who loves those who love it. And wisdom gives riches to those who find her.

What are you receiving? Are you seeking riches in the world and not getting? What if you were to shift your seeking to wisdom and when found, realize the riches she gives?

Find and Gain from Wisdom

We are pretty good at finding things when we are looking for them. Those things, when found, deliver some satisfaction, but generally that satisfaction is fleeting and minimal in lasting impact.

Notice the verbiage there in the above, looking for things. Thing are tangible what we get from them are fleeting as noted. But, intangible things we seem to seek as opposed to look for. Wisdom is one of those things that we should be seeking. We should have a deep desire to acquire wisdom for it is that which keeps on giving beyond the now.

“¹³Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,

and the one who gets understanding,

¹⁴for the gain from her is better than gain from silver

and her profit better than gold.”

— Proverbs 3:13-14 (ESV)

Silver and gold, or those tangible things do have a shelf life. They can be here today and gone tomorrow. We seem to look for those things that give pleasure in the now and then we tend to take for granted that which we acquired and squander it in the time that comes after. But wisdom, when found is something that continues to pay dividends throughout time. We may lose silver and gold, but we can always get more when using our wisdom.

Napoleon Hill’s book, “Think and Grow Rich” discusses the value of knowledge and wisdom. We gain lasting “wealth” from our knowledge and wisdom than the acquisition of things in the now. If we lose the things today, we can get more of them tomorrow by the use of our thoughts and reason.

“⁵At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” and “⁹Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” – 1 Kings 3:5 & 9 (ESV)

Solomon understood the value of things and when presented by the LORD to the chance to ask for anything, he chose wisdom and understanding as he knew that would be the lasting thing to govern the people. And wisdom He received, and then he shared that wisdom through the writings we know today as Proverbs, where our focus verses this morning come from.

We are so intent on the acquisition of things in our lives that we miss the opportunity to find that which truly continues to give. We should be seeking the sustainable and gaining from its daily use and involvement in our lives. Wisdom found is there for lifelong gain.

What is it you seek? Are you looking for that thing to satisfy the now? What if you were seek, find, and gain from that which will give you lifelong gain, wisdom?

Find Your Delight

“⁴⁷for I find my delight in your commandments,

which I love.

⁴⁸I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.”

— Psalm 119:47-48 (ESV)

“I find my delight in your commandments,” this is quite the verse and realization. But isn’t it true and with the LORD on a much larger scale.

My wife Lori is a teacher and I am in adult education and what we have found over the years is that people thrive in structure. They are keenly aware of expectations and can focus on producing results when they follow and meet and exceed those expectations. Having rules and guidelines to remove ambiguity and decision making for all of the little things allowing for energy to be expended on achieving results and not on meaningless tasks.

God gives us commandments and rules and expectations on our living life in this world. Some of those are grand, the Ten Commandments and the great commission, and others are less so, caring for the needy. But the one thing we can count on is that these commandments, rules, and expectations are in place for our guidance and direction as we traverse this world we live in as we prepare for our forever home, heaven.

As people in a classroom, we do not look at the structure and think, “wow these are great for me to not have to think about, I can just do”. But in this world, we can and should be looking at the commandments of the LORD as just that, “great for me”. We may not “delight” in the rules and expectations of this world, but we can and should find it in the commandments of the LORD. We should see His promise, His Word, His rules, His precepts, His commandments, and His statues as the structure that keeps us moving through this world as we prepare for our home.

I follow a very strict regimented disciplined daily routine that ensures I complete things on time and I am able to move on to the next with little thought. I am glad to have the commandments of the LORD to drive me forward in the things that matter as I move through this world. I find delight in knowing all my decisions can be made with Him in mind and that when doing so, I am headed in the right direction.

What is your feeling on commandments? Do you see them as restrictive and rigid? What if you saw them more as guidelines to keep you moving and were able to see and find delight in them?

You Will Again Find the LORD

Review my choice of words in the title above. Be aware that it is you that will find the LORD again, and not that He again finds you. If you read my previous study of the word “abandon” you will see that the LORD does not nor will not abandon us. He is there always waiting on us to turn back to Him. And when we do, He is right there ready to pick us up.

“³⁰When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. ³¹For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.” – Deuteronomy 4:30-31 (ESV)

The LORD will not leave or destroy us even though we turn away from Him. He gave us free will and He knew that we would act and do the way we act and do. He waits patiently for our return to Him. And, when we turn back to Him, He is there with open arms to receive us and love us and comfort us and protect us.

“²⁸And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” – Deuteronomy 4:28-29 (ESV)

We will distance ourselves from the LORD and will worship other gods. We will be servants of those gods and will allow them to bring us into despair. And just when things are at their worst. At our tribulation, we will realize the err in our way and we will seek the LORD and we will find Him there waiting for us. We will search for Him with fervor and with conviction.

I again come to the point of who does the searching, we. It is not the LORD searching to find us, as He never abandoned us. It is we who are doing the seeking. It is we who are again turning to the LORD. It is we who are again finding the LORD.

What are you worshiping? Are you hoping for rescue? What if you realize the err in your worship and turn again to seek and find the LORD, knowing that He never did nor never will abandon you?

Negotiate and Stick to It

I have moved to study the word “find” throughout God’s Word. I begin my study in the Book of Numbers with the negotiations of people of Reuben and Gad to stay and not cross over the Jordan River into the promised land. Seems a bit strange to not want to accept that which God had promised, but the reason made sense to the people.

The people of Reuben and Gad are not too different from you and me. They found something that was of benefit to them and that is where they found they wanted to be. When I find something that is of benefit to me, I am inclined to want that as well and am content in that finding. I will enter into negotiations to get/receive that which I found and in those negotiations will give up the prospect of something else to have what I have found. The people of Reuben and Gad did the same with Moses and with the promise of God, they negotiated to stay where they were and not accept the promised land of God.

“²⁰So Moses said to them, ‘If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, ²¹and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him ²²and the land is subdued before the Lord; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.’” “’²⁴Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.’ ²⁵And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben said to Moses, ‘Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, ²⁷but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.’”– Numbers 32:20-22 & 24-27 (ESV)

In the negotiations, everyone agreed that the people of Reuben and Gad would settle where they were and not in the promised land, in exchange for sending their armed men to fight for, alongside the other tribes in the acquisition of the promised land. Quite the negotiation to say the least. Fight for something that I have no stake in.

“²³But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.” – Numbers 32:23 (ESV)

And there it is, the other side of the negotiations. What happens if you do not uphold your end of the bargain. There are consequences. Where there are consequences to all negotiated terms that are not met, this negotiation is in the site of the LORD and you can bet they will be quite something. Although Moses does not outline what they are, the people had seen the anger of the LORD before, so I am sure that they were well aware of what those consequences were.

“¹At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ²and said to them, ‘You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. ³You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. ⁴And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan.’” – Joshua 22:1-4 (ESV)

Yep, they upheld their end of the bargain and the negotiated terms were kept by all involved. The promised land was secured and the people of Reuben and Gad settled in the negotiated land.

This is but one example of negotiating and consequences of the negotiation. Here the people of Reuben and Gad avoided the consequences as the LORD and they held up their ends of the negotiation. The same is for you and me. When we negotiate, we are to do so in good faith with full intent on following through with our end of the negotiation. Regardless of who we negotiate with, it is our duty to uphold our end. Remember that the LORD will allow our negotiations. He did so with Moses and here we see with the people of Reuben and Gad. The LORD will always uphold His end, it is up to us to stick to ours.

What do your negotiations look like? Are you making promised that you may or may not intend to keep? What if you were to negotiate in good faith and stick to it as we know the LORD will stick to His?

Remember and Turn Back

Jesus knows the condition of our heart. He knows where we are in our relationship with Him. Regardless of how you may be fooling yourself and/or others, Christ knows.

“⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” – Revelation 2:4 (ESV)

Even as He does know the current condition of our heart, Jesus also knows where we were at one point and that we do have the capacity to get back there. It is however a conscious decision to turn back to Him and get right in our following of the LORD.

“²I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.” – Revelation 2:2-3 (ESV)

We know where we were. We know that we are sinners and were without salvation at one time. We accepted the gift of salvation that was give by Christ and progressed doing the work the LORD had for us. And then, as noted in verse four above, we see that we have fallen away from that work. We turned away from the LORD, maybe not consciously, but turned away none the less.

“⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” – Revelation 2:5a (ESV)

This is where we are, we need to get back to our communion with the LORD. We need to re-engage with Him and find our way back to Him. We need to get back to where we were at first. Back to endurance, back to calling out evil, back to recognizing and calling our the false, and back to acting and doing the name of Jesus. We have turned away and abandoned the LORD, now is our time to turn back to Him and get back to work spreading His Word, the gospel, to all the world.

Where are you in your relationship with the LORD? Have you turned away and toward yourself? What if you remembered and turn back to Jesus and begin again doing the works you did when you first came to know Him?

We Witness and Experience the Promise of God

God promised to send a savior. And He did. We walked with Him and experienced Him and witnessed Him in this world and not just the promise of Him.

Okay, so you and I did not walk with, experience, and witness Jesus when He came into this world as our savior. But, for just over 30 years He was here in this physical world and our ancestors did. God made a declaration and promise that He would provide and send a savior for the world and He did just that. We have the accounts of Jesus and we have the results of His life and He indeed come that we would be saved.

“36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

“32This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.” – Acts 2:36 & 32 (ESV)

Peter is reminding us that Jesus was promised to us and He came to walk among us and provide for our salvation from this world. Jesus was the savior promised and He demonstrated the love of God for all the world to see. David new of and spoke of His coming and rejoiced. Peter and the disciples walked daily with Him and continued His work. We know of His coming and walking and can/should speak of the gift of salvation He brought and is available for all.

“25For David says concerning him,

‘”I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;”’”

— Acts 2:25 (ESV)

You see, I may not have me Jesus personally, but I have witnessed Him daily. I have seen His love and compassion and grace and mercy in my life and yours. I know, as David did, that He walks with me wherever I go. He is with me now as I study and write. Jesus is my salvation and I have witness to and experience His glory.

What is your experience with Jesus? Are you aware of His walking with you daily? What if you realized that you do indeed witness and experience His love, compassion, grace, mercy, and glory all the days of your life?

Keep Waiting, You Have Not Been Abandoned

Patience my friend. It is not easy to wait. We are a restless people. Today especially, we live in a world of almost instant response, and things are only getting faster. With AI, we are able to accomplish things so much faster and this is diminishing the value of patience.

With our LORD, we must be patient. He works on His timeline and not ours. No amount of AI is going to get us to heaven any faster. Our deliverance will come when the LORD means for it and not a moment sooner or later. We may feel as though He is not listening or has left our presence, but He has not. The LORD has not abandoned us, no matter what we might be told.

“¹⁴For the Lord will not forsake his people;

he will not abandon his heritage;

¹⁵for justice will return to the righteous,

and all the upright in heart will follow it.”

— Psalm 94:14-15 (ESV)

Psalm 94 is titled in my ESV Bible, “The LORD will Not Forsake His People”, but nowhere in the chapter is it mentioned when. The psalmist just advises us to wait and that the LORD will deliver. This falls directly into what we know about the LORD and His timeline. We just don’t know. We are not in the loop as to when or how things will happen. We only trust that they will as we continue doing the work of the LORD.

I must admit that I am patient with some things and impatient with others. I have had to learn patience and trust that things will be done in the right time. I get frustrated when things do not go the way that I have planned them and then I remember that the LORD has a plan for all things and that plan has a timeline. I have to remember also to keep working for the LORD and know that I am to wait on Him and He will deliver me.

Verses 14 and 15 above are so right for you and me to study and remember. “The LORD will not forsake his people” and “justice will return to the righteous”. As for when, we do not know. We continue to wait, doing the work assigned, and know that we have not been abandoned or forsaken.

How patient are you? Are you constantly working to get things done in the now? What if you were to continue waiting on and working for the LORD, knowing that He has not abandoned you and that “justice will return” when the LORD decides?

Wait Out the Wicked

Waiting does not seem to be very productive as pertains to getting on with things. Shouldn’t we be taking action to move forward. Shouldn’t we keep on going and not just sit and wait. Well yes, but we should be doing so with purpose of glorifying the LORD and not just taking action to move on. Our action for the LORD is waiting, and our waiting is allowing the LORD to work.

“³⁴Wait for the Lord and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on when the wicked are cut off.”

— Psalm 37:34 (ESV)

Our waiting is not just to wait out the wicked, but to wait on the LORD to act on our behalf. He will not allow is children to harmed to the point of eternal damnation. We have been adopted into the family of God and He will ensure that we join Him in glory when the time is right.

“³²The wicked watches for the righteous

and seeks to put him to death.

³³The Lord will not abandon him to his power

or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.”

— Psalm 37:32-33 (ESV)

The wicked are watching and waiting for us to falter. The wicked are going to pounce when it sees that we are vulnerable to manipulation. The wicked are opportunists. We have to be ready to wait them out for the wicked where they are patient, they are not as patient as the LORD. Once the die is cut and there is loss on their side, the wicked will move on having been cut off by the LORD (see verse 34 above).

You see, the LORD waits for us and does not abandon us in our time of need. It may seem like He is not there when we need Him, but the truth is that He carries us through the challenge and protects us from the wicked. We only have to remain faithful to Him and He will deliver us.

“⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5 (ESV)

We are to wait out the wicked as we are waiting on the LORD. Yes, the wicked has patience and is looking for the opportunity to attack, but the LORD is more and infinitely patient as He waits on us. He protects us and cares for us and loves us more that we can imagine. When we are in the LORD, we will be prosperous in Him and will inherit glory.

What is your patience level? Do you give in when things are not going the way you feel they should and allow the wicked to take hold? What if you were to live knowing that the LORD is infinitely more patient and will win out, all you have to do is continue to wait on Him, wait out the wicked, and inherit glory as the LORD carries you forward?

God Does Leave Us to Destruction

I am in the midst of a study of the word “abandon/abandoned” and have found that God will not abandon us. Yes, He will allow us to be in distress and disaster will befall us, but He will not abandon us.

This morning I am continuing that study and have been brought to the Psalms, where David is declaring that God will not abandon him. He speaks of all the places where he will continue showing allegiance to God. Whether in God Himself, or the people of God, or His provision, or His counsel, David finds joy in the LORD.

David also recognizes that the LORD is a just God and will all distress and disaster to come upon him. He knows that it is up to him to follow the LORD and when not, the LORD will allow the path to become a bit more challenging. We choose that path thanks to the free will He has given to us, and God will allow us to explore that path. But, David also knows that the LORD will not be far away and will work to protect and guide him back.

“⁷I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;

in the night also my heart instructs me.

⁸I have set the Lord always before me;

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.”

— Psalm 16:7-9 (ESV)

Yes, there may be some thought to the idea that we can do whatever we want since we have the LORD as our savior. Where there is a deeper discussion there, I will not get into, David shows here that he knows that no matter how bad things get, he is secure in the love and care of the LORD. He know that God is always with him.

“¹⁰For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

or let your holy one see corruption.”

— Psalm 16:10 (ESV)

When things get bad, we can be secure in that God will not allow us to stay in that distress. He will not leave us to our destruction. God will provide the way for us to climb out of despair and into His arms of comfort and protection. He will send us help and as we are under His care, we will recognize that help at some point and find our way back. God will not leave us to our destruction, He will be with us as we experience what it is like to be away from Him.

How are you secure? Are you relying on yourself for security from destruction? What if you were to rely on the LORD, knowing that where you may be feeling the disaster in your life, He is with you and will not leave you to it as your security is in Him?