Wisdom from God

Pure
Ezekiel 35:1-36:38

"I will take you from the nations and gather you out of all the lands and bring you back into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and your idols. Also, I will teach you to respect me completely, and I will put a new way of thinking inside you. I will take out the stubborn hearts of stone from your bodies, and I will give you obedient hearts of flesh. I will put my Spirit inside you and help you live by my rules and carefully obey my laws. You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors, and you will be my people, and I will be your God." (Ezekiel 36:24-28)

Here God welcomes Israel home, a very special sentiment during the holidays. However, much more important is the way in which God welcomes the people home... granting them wisdom in purity... cleansing them from their sins, teaching them respect for the Lord, giving them a new way of thinking, placing obedient hearts in each of them, and filling them with the Spirit. Last night we talked about the importance of praying to be filled with the Spirit, and Lord, this is something that I earnestly pray... grant me Your wisdom that comes from living a life filled with Your holy Spirit, Lord.

Peaceful
Psalm 131:1-3

"Lord, my heart is not proud; I don't look down on others. I don't do great things, and I can't do miracles. But I am calm and quiet, like a baby with its mother. I am at peace, like a baby with its mother. People of Israel, put your hope in the Lord now and forever." (Psalm 131:1-3)

For an anxious, somewhat high-strung, Type A personality (not to mention any names- atie-kay), a state of peace... "like a baby with its mother" is sometimes inconceivable. Besides sleeplessness and anxiety, several years during finals or other high stress, high pressure situations, I acquired something called "trench mouth." It doesn't sound pleasant, and it isn't. It's basically a severe form of gingivitis that causes painful, infected, bleeding gums and ulcerations. (At times of emotional stress, your immune system weakens in general... and yes, my body reacts in this unusual, uncomfortable way.)

While I know that I need to just calm down and "take it in stride," God is the only one that makes it possible in my life. Perhaps because it is not my natural tendency, I'm so grateful for the blessing of God's indescribable peace. I know it is God, because it is certainly not me. Your peaceful wisdom is amazing, oh God. May I learn to know it more.

Gentle and Easy to Please
James 3:1-18

"But the wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help those who are troubled and to do good for others. It is always fair and honest. People who work for peace in a peaceful way plant a good crop of right-living." (James 3:17-18)

James is fast becoming one of my favorite books of the Bible. So many beautiful and important teaching verses. It is interesting that here we are shown what wisdom looks like in its outward expressions. When I think of "wisdom," it often conjures images of a wise old philosopher sitting and writing books or studying. This kind of wisdom is different, more accessible, more applicable. God's wisdom is gentle... not forceful, not belittling. And God's wisdom is expressed through deed- helping those in trouble and working for the good of others.

Lord, before learning about Your wisdom, I didn't even know "wisdom" was something I cared to acquire... thinking only of the worldly definition of the word. But your wisdom is good and honest and fair and pure and peaceful and gentle and easy to please. Lord, teach me Your wisdom... that I may live it in the world.