All I Want Is a Popsicle

I began my journey by looking at the wisdom of God.  I found so many good passages for wisdom that I couldn’t even begin to name them all.  I picked some of my favorites, though.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  James 1:5

That’s a good place to start.  Ask for wisdom…sounds easy enough.  This verse says that God gives generously.  This wisdom isn’t something that God is hiding and doesn’t want to be found.  It isn’t a game of Hide and Seek where God has hidden wisdom in a dark corner and I’m supposed to search until I find it – and then God will be disappointed that He didn’t hide it well enough.  No, it’s a free gift that requires seeking after.  It’s like the popsicles that are handed out at parades.   As a kid, I couldn’t just lazily sit on the curb and assume that the people on the float were going to toss a nice, cold popsicle my way in the blazing heat.  No – I had to get up and eagerly pursue the float yelling and screaming, “Please, can I have one?  Please?”   So it is with the search for wisdom.  I can’t stay in this life of mine and just assume that God will toss wisdom in my direction.  I have to get up and run down the faith road, asking and pleading to God to notice me and have mercy on me…just like those adults on the floats had mercy on me as a little girl when they saw my eager face, flushed by the Southern Illinois heat and humidity.  I was given a popsicle – and NOTHING could compare to that treat.  So now, I am asking God to give me wisdom – and NOTHING will compare to this great gift. 

Although my wisdom in starting a family now makes perfect sense to me – it obviously isn’t God’s plan for my life at this moment.  I read today that His wisdom is so much higher than mine and His ways are so much higher than mine that I can’t even begin to understand them.  So, today I’m trying to rely on God’s wisdom and not my own.   

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

About a week ago, I was reading through Proverbs, and came across this verse. 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”  Proverbs 9:10

After reading through the verse once, I stopped and kept rereading it.  I didn’t see it right away but I knew I was supposed to be having an “Aha” moment.  After reading Proverbs 9:10 about fifteen times and just sitting and thinking…I understood (with the Holy Spirit’s help, of course)!  I’m looking for wisdom and discernment in regards to starting a family, but I’m looking in all the wrong places.  The Bible clearly states that we are to look for wisdom in the fear of the Lord FIRST.  That means my desire to have wisdom regarding our future children is secondary to my desire for God’s wisdom.  The beginning of wisdom comes through fearing the Lord.  By sitting in awe at the wonders of His hand – at the works He has done – at His unending mercy and grace – at His constant forgiveness – at His infinite wisdom.  Then and ONLY then, will this fear of the Lord lead to wisdom – which will, in turn, lead to insight and understanding.  So, I’m looking for wisdom about God’s plan for my life – but I don’t start there.  I start by fearing the Lord – and the rest will fall into place.  I can’t search for wisdom and find it like I search for my missing keys.  It doesn’t work that way.  I search for wisdom by hitting my knees and showing awe and reverence to God.  And so I’ve learned, true knowledge and wisdom can only come from fearing the Lord and knowing Him.

And just to make sure that I was really going to search for this wisdom in the right way, God put this next verse right in front of me. 

“For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.”  Proverbs 8:11

There is NOTHING more precious than gaining the wisdom that is of God.  There is NOTHING more desirable than knowledge from God.  Gandalf’s statement from The Fellowship of the Ring comes to mind, “He is seeking it. Seeking it, all his thought is bent on it.”  Of course, Gandalf is speaking of Sauron in regards to his desire to find the ring of power – but it says perfectly what my business ought to be.  I should be seeking wisdom. Seeking it, with all my thoughts bent on it.  Everything else in this life that I desire pales in comparison to this one thing – wisdom.

So, just as I sought after that icy popsicle on a terribly hot 4^th of July many years ago – so now I will seek after the greatest jewel that man could ever find…and all I want is wisdom (and maybe a popsicle).

Melissa