Go offline with the Player FM app!
God is Wise
Manage episode 426801773 series 1916669
Well, we’ve come to the end of this excellent series in the communicable attributes of God. These are his attributes which he is pleased to share, not in an absolute way, but in a gracious and a limited way with his children, with those who are amongst the family of God, who know God as our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We’ve looked at how God is love, God is holy, God is faithful, God is glorious, God is just.
Last week, God is patient, and this week, God is wise. I was thinking, obviously, this is election week coming up on Thursday, and I don’t think there has ever been a time, certainly in my life, when outright folly has just defined so much of the political situation that we have in our own day and generation, not only what we’ve been going through over the past few years, but indeed, what is being proposed, regardless of which political party, I’m not making any particular focus, but just so much unwise policy, so much folly bound up in the political parties, because there is no regard at all for God or his standards, and we’re reminded, aren’t we, of the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So, there is such an enormous need for wisdom, not only in our national life, but in particular, and this is what I want us to be thinking about this evening, in our individual personal lives, there is an enormous need for all of us to have true wisdom, and so it is such an encouragement that wisdom is one of God’s communicable attributes.
It’s different from his perfect knowledge, his omniscience. None of us is omniscient. That is one of his incommunicable attributes, but as we read in James 1, verse 5, if any of us lacks wisdom, we should ask God for it, because he gives graciously and generously to all without finding fault, without reproach.
So, just to start us off, I think it’s important just that we think a little bit about what wisdom means. So, we want to look, first of all, at God’s wisdom defined, and our key verse here, Isaiah 28, verse 29, where we read, all this comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent. Let’s remember that all of God’s attributes are perfect.
They could not be any better than they are, and his wisdom is no exception. His wisdom is magnificent. His wisdom is excellent.
So, we want to think a little bit about what that means, and then we’ll think a bit more, in a bit more detail, about how God’s wisdom is displayed in all sorts of various ways. So, let’s think in a more abstract way about a definition for wisdom. It’s a word that is used a lot in Scripture, and indeed Scripture helps us a bit, because it uses similar words alongside wisdom, which shows that it is distinct from it.
So, first of all, wisdom is more than knowledge. A very good friend of mine from university, who, well, he wasn’t at university, he was a school friend of mine, but when he went up to university, he left after fifth year. I remember when he came back to see us at Christmastime, he had been exposed to the gospel, and some of you may remember the late Captain Stephen Anderson, and he said something which had really struck my friend, which was that universities are full of young people that are filled with knowledge, but there’s so little wisdom.
And, of course, that really is so true, isn’t it, that knowledge does not mean wisdom. We can have all the knowledge in the world, but if we don’t know how to use it properly, then it will count as nothing. Indeed, that’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, doesn’t he, that all knowledge is nothing without love.
And then it’s more than understanding. We may have incredible intellect, we may have incredible intelligence, but on a practical basis, we may completely lack common sense, we may lack any ability to put that understanding into practice. And wisdom is more than experience as well.
So often we hear of people, they do have a great deal of experience, but they keep making the same mistakes again and again, and I’m sure we can include ourselves under that heading. So wisdom is more than knowledge, it’s more than understanding, it’s more than experience. And I think that maybe a helpful definition would be it’s really all of the above put into practice, put into practical use in a way that is sensible and indeed beneficial.
(5:47 – 9:03)
Maybe that would be a somewhat cumbersome but hopefully helpful definition of wisdom. And we need to remember as well that there are two kinds of wisdom that are spoken of in the Bible, in particular within the New Testament, although alluded to in the Old Testament as well. There is the worldly wisdom of men, or indeed a demonic wisdom, and there is the heavenly wisdom of God, the heavenly wisdom of Christ.
Paul speaks in particular about this in 1 Corinthians, but James speaks about it as well in his letter, and we’ll look at both passages as we go on later on this evening. So having thought about what wisdom means in a kind of general conceptual way, let’s think perhaps of a definition for God’s wisdom. And there was a very helpful little book that I was reading just in preparation for this evening by a headteacher actually, not a theologian or a pastor, but a headteacher called Tim Shenton, a great little book called Our Perfect God.
And he defines God’s wisdom as his ability to choose from all possible alternatives and with perfect discernment the highest goal and to select and direct the best means to accomplish that goal. He chooses the right ends and means for the right reasons and directs and arranges all things in accordance with his purposes for his creatures. In this way, he makes all things subservient to his own glory.
And then there is no defect in his wisdom. There is no act of his that could ever be done more wisely. His wisdom is pure, loving, and good.
Doesn’t that make reference to some of the other attributes that we’ve been thinking about over these past few Sunday evenings? And it’s so important, isn’t it, really, to realize that God is the ultimate source of all perfect wisdom. Indeed, we were just singing there, weren’t we, that God’s wisdom is our perfect peace. There is nothing else that can bring true peace and comfort to our lives.
Even if we think of some of God’s other attributes, they could perhaps make him feel a little distant, the fact that he’s all-knowing and all-powerful. Yet, if we don’t focus on his wisdom, then we may feel there isn’t that connection with him, that he doesn’t take any interest in our lives, that he doesn’t have any real plan for our lives. So his wisdom is a profoundly pastoral and comforting truth about him, one of his most encouraging attributes in terms of help for us spiritually, pastoral help for us, the hymn helpfully saying that whose wisdom is my perfect peace.
(9:04 – 14:42)
So let’s think then just for a few minutes about the various ways in which God’s wisdom is displayed. And we can think, first of all, of God’s wisdom displayed in creation. It’s fascinating that there are several verses that actually make this point, but we’re going to look at Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 12.
But God made the earth by his power. He founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. And we could have an entire sermon focusing on this, but I want to just give you just a few thoughts about God’s wisdom displayed in creation in a way that I think is actually a very strong apologetic for speaking to non-Christians about, but also in terms of our own understanding of God, our own meditation on what a great and wise and glorious God he is.
So God displaces wisdom in the order and harmony of creation. It’s absolutely incredible when you think about all the different laws of physics that all work together. It’s often referred to as the fine tuning of the universe, how everything holds together.
And we know from Colossians and Hebrews, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1, that everything was made through Christ and for him, and he sustains all things and in him all things hold together. And our own generation, this is one of the things that just is so incredible and very sad in so many ways that we have never had a generation that has understood and appreciated and indeed seen so much of God’s glory in creation. Think of all the David Attenborough documentaries going deeper into the oceans than has ever happened before and seeing the beautiful color and diversity of the fish and other sea creatures there.
And yet in spite of all that knowledge, David Attenborough remains an atheist. And you would think that it was such a display of God’s glory in creation that more people would come to faith, but sadly such is our spiritual blindness that we don’t see God’s hand, so many of us, in that wonderful creation. So order and harmony, and then next beauty and variety.
Again, these nature programs that we see on television, and indeed just simply on a lovely day like today, just experiencing the lovely summer weather, the sunshine, the rich colors, the flowers in the garden, all these things display God’s glory. So much beauty, so much variety. And then intricacy and complexity.
Next, again, the irreducible complexity of the molecule is one of the great arguments for a creator, those of you who’ve looked into that subject. And I think it is one of the strongest arguments that unless all these different components were in existence, in every single molecule, life would not exist. There’s that incredible detail that God has gone to in the creation of every living thing.
And then next, functionality and purpose. Isn’t it amazing just how the whole of creation works together? I was just thinking back to lessons in secondary school about photosynthesis and the way that oxygen is kind of created through trees and plants, and just how the whole ecosystems all work together in such a beneficial way that we have just the right kind of atmosphere that allows creatures, human beings and animals, to breathe and to function. All these things, we could go into so much more detail, but just the functionality and purpose of so much in creation, all the variety of fruit and vegetables and spices and herbs and plants, all these things that God has created that have such a benefit for us in all sorts of different ways, in particular, nutrients for us to be able to live healthy lives.
All part of his final point, which is abundance and provision that we read in Genesis, don’t we, about God having given all these seed-bearing plants and fruits, really, for us to eat. And we can see that having continued down through the ages, even to our own day and generation. So, we could go into a lot more detail about these, but I don’t want to dwell on them too much.
But this verse there in Jeremiah 10 verse 12 is repeated in Proverbs and Psalms and elsewhere in the Old Testament too, that God’s creation of the heavens and the earth is by his wisdom. So, moving on to the next thing about God’s wisdom being displayed is in revelation, what God says. So, if God’s wisdom is seen, first of all, in creation and what he makes.
(14:43 – 17:30)
Secondly, it’s seen in revelation, what he says. And of course, we have the Bible that explains to us so much about God. First of all, what it says about himself, what God has revealed of himself in Scripture.
He’s revealed as the creator and the sustainer of all things. He is the glorious, majestic God with all these amazing attributes, some of which we’ve been thinking about over these past few weeks, but also the incommunicable ones, the fact that he is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, all-knowing. He is eternal.
He is unchangeable. All these different attributes. But he’s also holy and righteous.
No injustice in him. Just thinking of new verses, just Exodus that speaks about God doing wonders and majestic in all sorts of ways. As well as Scripture revealing about God himself and his character and his attributes, Scripture, of course, also speaks about us as human beings.
We read that we are made in the image of God, Genesis 1, 27. We read in Psalm 8 that we are made a little lower than the angels. And we find that that’s not the full story, but it is the starting point that Scripture gives us to show that we are image bearers of God himself.
He has made us what theologians call vice regents of creation and has given us many responsibilities to steward the earth and its resources and to live in a way that pleases God. And that brings about the next thing that God has revealed, which he reveals his ways. There’s the verse from Deuteronomy 32, verse 4, speaking of God, he is the rock.
His works are perfect and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. And of course, we have God’s ways revealed progressively through the Old Testament.
There’s hints of his perfect law through Genesis and then more fully in Exodus with the giving of the Ten Commandments. And then we’ve got all sorts of additional what we might call secondary legislation there in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Numbers. And then we’ve got so much in the wisdom literature, in Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes, so much that is revealed to us of God and his ways and what wise living looks like.
(17:32 – 24:30)
But also, of course, what is revealed to us in Scripture is the fact that we did not retain our original innocence, that as we read in Genesis 3, there was the fall of humanity. Adam and Eve, our first appearance, gave in to temptation from the serpent and sinned. And throughout the whole of the Old and the New Testament, time and time again, God reveals our sin and our need of forgiveness.
Right from the coverings that God provided for Adam and Eve, they tried to provide their own covering. And of course, that was inadequate. It was God himself alone who could provide covering for their sin.
And we see that the gospel in microcosm there in Genesis. And of course, with Abel’s offering there as well, referred to so many times in the New Testament as being acceptable to God because it was that sacrifice of another life laid down on behalf of the one bringing worship. And that’s the principle that’s run all the way through the Old Testament.
We’ll come back to that in a minute in terms of what Christ has done. So God has shown his wisdom in revealing in Scripture about himself, about us, about his ways, and about our sin and need. And then moving on very much from that, God has also displayed his wisdom, the magnificence of his wisdom, ultimately in salvation, what he has done for us in Christ.
And there’s so many verses we could look at, but I want to look in particular at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, because it’s so opposite to what we’re thinking about this evening. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, where we read there, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God, that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. This is a truly magnificent verse that just goes into, just sums up so succinctly what Christ being the wisdom of God actually means.
First of all, he is our righteousness, and that’s echoing the teaching in Jeremiah of the Lord, our righteousness. So how is it that the Lord himself, the Lord Jesus, is our righteousness? Well, we see from the book of Romans that none of us is righteous. There is not one of us who’s righteous.
We read that in Romans 3. In fact, really the whole, the first three chapters of Romans spells out that regardless of our background, whether we have a lot of spiritual privileges, as David was sharing with us this morning, as the Pharisees had, or whether we are out-and-out pagans, then none of us is righteous before God. All have sinned and fallen short of his glory. And we need what theologians call an alien righteousness, a righteousness that is apart from the law, that is apart from anything that we could do.
But in the gospel, in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have that perfect righteousness. He lived the life that none of us had lived, that none of us could have lived, that perfect life that God required, which Christ fulfilled, that theologians often call the covenant of works, that he had obeyed God’s law to perfection. Adam and Eve, of course, failed to obey what God had said.
But as the hymn writer says so wonderfully, O matchless wisdom of our God, when all was sin and shame, a second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came. And that second Adam, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ, who by his perfectly righteous life and perfect obedience to all God’s commands, lived that life that we had not lived, that we could never live. And in the gospel, we are clothed with that perfect righteousness of Christ.
Think of Zechariah there, sorry, Joshua in the prophecy of Zechariah, Joshua the high priest, with the filthy robes taken off him and the clean robes put on him. That’s a wonderful picture there of us being clothed in the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us and received by faith that great imputation that Christ’s righteousness is credited, is imputed to us so that we are counted righteous in Christ and accepted in the beloved. And then next, there was a righteous that we could never provide ourselves but is graciously and freely provided for us in the gospel, the wisdom of God in Christ.
And then holiness, and this is very much the word that means holy living, a holy life, that it’s something that even as Christians, we cannot live in our own strength, but it is Christ’s righteousness even as we live from day to day, as we live by faith in him, relying on his grace, relying on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that that holiness of Christ is worked out progressively in terms of transformation from our conversion right the way through to the end of our lives, or our being called home to be with the Lord, or until he comes, that there’s that work of Christ in our lives, conforming us more and more by his Spirit to his likeness. And then lastly, you’re probably wondering, where does forgiveness come in here? Well, it’s there as well. In this last word, redemption.
Now, there are two words for redemption in the Greek, and this is the really full one. This is the one that is quoted in Ephesians, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. So it is referring there to us being redeemed, purchased by the blood of Christ.
But it’s also used in Romans 8, where it speaks of us groaning and awaiting the redemption of our bodies. And the word, which if you want to know the Greek, it’s apolatrosis. And it really has a sense of meaning of release, of actually being set free.
(24:31 – 25:38)
The slave is no longer a slave, but he’s been set free. And of course, this is the great truth of redemption. I’m sure most of you are familiar with this, but for those of you who aren’t, it’s a really important truth to remember, that we are set free from the penalty of sin as we are justified by faith in Christ.
And there’s the righteousness imputed to us. All our sins forgiven because of the cross. We’re set free increasingly and progressively from the power of sin in our lives as we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
And then finally, when we are called to be home with the Lord, and indeed ultimately, when we receive our resurrection bodies, that is the ultimate fulfillment of redemption, where we are released from the very presence of sin. And for those of us who will die before the Lord comes, that’s at the moment of our death. And those of us who remain when Christ returns, that change in an instant when we are set free, even from the presence of sin, and we are changed in a moment.
(25:39 – 31:39)
So the whole span of salvation in this one glorious verse, the wisdom of God for us in Christ, who has become for us wisdom from God. And everything about God’s plan is focused and encapsulated in Christ and all that he has done for us in the gospel. And that is the great hope for every Christian, not in anything that we could do, not in anything that we have done, but in the Christ alone in what he has done for us.
When I was thinking in preparing this, I thought perhaps of finishing with that because what greater high point could there be than Christ? But I want to finish this evening with what a number of the commentaries would, or at least the systematic theologies would put as the second point. But I think actually this is important to finish with, and that is God’s wisdom displayed in providence, or to have a rhyming one with creation and salvation, orchestration. Because I think that is actually a good analogy, what God plans.
We often speak about an event being carefully orchestrated, very well organized, very well planned, very well executed, extremely well orchestrated is what we say, but of course it is a musical term. And I think this is a helpful one because God is the composer and the conductor, but all of us are the musicians, you could say. And I hope that is a helpful analogy that stresses God’s sovereignty, but also our responsibility, and the fact that God uses means, and in particular he uses his people, and he uses all human beings to fulfill his purposes.
There are primary causes that God, through his sovereign will, has designed for his glory, but there’s a reality of what we call secondary causes as well, that each of us has a part to play in the plan of God, in the mystery of his providence. We are not passive, we have an important role to play. God enables us in all these things, and yet there are important choices to be made, and things that we need to be involved with doing to fulfill his plan, and just getting the balance of that right is one of the great struggles within Christian theology, isn’t it? But I think that the idea of an orchestra where God is the composer and the conductor, but we are the musicians.
So, again a definition of providence, or God’s orchestration of all things for his glory, from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, God’s work of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. And a few verses to think about here, Proverbs 16 verse 4, the Lord works out everything to its proper end, even the wicked for the day of disaster. And one of the best examples in the Old Testament of God’s divine sovereignty, and the human element in particular with the problem of sin and evil, which I know I have not touched on a great deal, but this is a great example of how God is even able to turn the wrath of men to praise him.
At the end of Joseph’s life, Genesis 50 verse 20, he says to his brothers, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Then of course, well-known verse in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11, and him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. A great key verse there on the providence of God working everything in conformity, working out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.
And of course, I could not leave this section without Romans 8 28, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. And again, just a kind of what you might call the kind of New Testament equivalent of Joseph’s experience in terms of looking at the cross and what was happening there. Acts 2 23, this man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
I think that’s the clearest example there of man’s culpability in the most evil act that ever happened in the whole history of the world. The help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him on the cross, and yet this was God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge. So keeping those two things in tension is so important for us to understand.
(31:43 – 32:29)
So I want us just to, because God’s wisdom is a communicable attribute, I want us to think just for the last few minutes on how God’s wisdom is displayed through us. And this will take a lot of thinking about, but I’m just going to look at it very briefly at these points, really going back over these four points and seeing how they apply to us in terms of our own lives. But first of all, I want us to think just to go back to the two kinds of wisdom, because we are constantly tempted to go with the world’s wisdom, aren’t we? So let’s look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians.
(32:31 – 34:58)
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand science and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, there it is again, for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
We’re facing in our own day and generation a detailed way of looking at life, a detailed worldview that I don’t think has ever been seen in quite such a way in human history that takes a great deal of effort to refute and to dismantle, but it’s absolutely essential that we do and that we identify it as the fallen and fallible and flawed wisdom of this world that seems so convincing but is utterly false. Indeed, it is the folly of human wisdom spoken of here. We can look as well at James 3, if you look that up, James chapter 3, where we find verses 13 to 18, who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Isn’t that a lovely description of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ? Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. Such a lovely passage there but such a challenging one of the utter contrast between the world’s wisdom and its bitter fruit and godly wisdom and its good fruit.
(34:59 – 38:36)
So I wanted just to mention them just in context as we think about how we can live lives under God through the indwelling Holy Spirit in ways that honour God. So again, just in creativity, we’re not ultimate creators but we are creative individuals. The things that we do, there ought to be order and harmony.
We should be doing things that are beautiful with variety. Attention to detail is so important, intricacy and complexity. We should be doing things, whatever our abilities, whatever our skills, whatever gifts we have, that have a functionality and a purpose and indeed in ways that we are able to provide for others.
If we are either providing for ourselves or providing for our spouses, providing for our families with that provision and indeed that abundance that if we are honouring God then there should be that surplus, shall we say, in terms of what we’re able to generate in terms of income that we’re able to give generously to the Lord’s work and indeed to other good causes that were created for the good works that God has created in Christ for good works there. And even under God’s common grace, I’m just thinking there are many great things in our modern age and generation. We’ve got clean running water, we’ve got forms of transport that just didn’t exist 150 years ago, that we all take for granted that are a result of human ingenuity and creativity, all as a result of those abilities being given by God through his grace, his common grace for all.
But as Christians surely we need to be taking seriously the fact that we are created in Christ for good works. And then in communication, what we say. What we say is so important, but again reflecting what God has revealed of himself in scripture.
What are we saying about God? Are we, as his ambassadors, as Christ’s witnesses, are we accurate in what we’re saying about God to others? How we view ourselves, how we communicate with others about ourselves as those image bearers of Christ being recreated in that image and renewed in that image daily? About God’s ways, are we honoring his ways as we speak of them in our lives? About our sin and need, are we honest with ourselves and with others about the fact that we depend on God’s grace every single moment that we live? We never ought to feel that we’ve arrived, we never ought to be proud, we never ought to have a superior attitude, thinking that we’ve somehow made it already and others haven’t in the Christian walk. And then thinking of salvation, not really what our responsibility, what we do in Christ. And there’s so many aspects, and of course it transforms our whole lives.
(38:37 – 39:29)
Every aspect of our lives ought to be lived for God’s glory. Paul says we should no longer live for ourselves, but for him who for our sakes died and rose again. Peter says that Christ died, he offered himself there, he gave himself for our sins on his body on the tree.
He died there on our behalf that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. So it’s really our whole lives ought to be lived for Christ, and that is our daily devotion to him, our own personal walk, our witness to others, our fellowship with God’s people, the service, the good works that God has prepared for us, the service that we are called to do. Not to put ourselves right with him, but as a result of ourselves having been made right in Christ.
(39:31 – 40:46)
And then lastly, I want to think about this orchestration. God has his plans, but all of us have our plans for our lives. And I’ve been really burdened to speak on this because from listening to so many stories of people down in my own life who have once walked the path of faith, but because of our hard providence, because things haven’t worked out as they planned, because of suffering, because of loss, because of tragedy, because of deep, deep disappointment in one way or another, they either walk away from the faith or they lose their joy and bitterness and resentment takes root.
And they just lead a joyless existence all the rest of their days. And that’s an absolute tragedy. And it’s a danger that could face, indeed does face, I believe, every single one of us.
(40:47 – 43:26)
I was thinking just with what David was saying this morning, so challenging his word. And I think maybe to build on that this evening, I think it’s important for us to be honest with ourselves about the disappointments in our lives and whether we’ve let a root of bitterness or resentment take root in our lives, whether that has affected how we feel about God, whether we’re really questioning his wisdom in these hard providences, which are always brought to teach us, which are always brought to help us grow. But for so many of us, and certainly I can testify to this myself, it’s very, very easy just to feel some resentment because of a hard providence that has come into my life.
And just in closing, I want just to share something that was very helpful for me many years ago and I’ve thought about so often over the last several decades. And I hadn’t really noticed until I was thinking about it how much God’s wisdom is included in this poem because it helps us to see that:
Disappointment, His appointment. Change one letter, then I see
that the thwarting of my purpose is God’s better choice for me.
His appointment must be blessing, though it may come in disguise,
For the end from the beginning, open to His wisdom, lies.
Disappointment, His appointment. Whose? The Lord’s who loves me best,
understands and knows me fully, who my faith and love would test.
For like loving earthly parent, He rejoices when He knows
that His child accepts unquestioned all that from His wisdom flows.
Disappointment, His appointment. No good thing will He withhold.
From denials oft we gather treasures of His love untold.
Well, He knows each broken purpose leads to fuller, deeper trust,
and the end of all His dealings proves our God is wise and just.
Disappointment, His appointment. Lord, I take it then as such,
like the clay in hands of potter, yielding wholly to thy touch.
All my life plan is thy moulding, not one single choice be mine.
Let me answer unrepining, “Father, not my will, but thine”.
Let’s pray together. Heavenly father, how we thank you for your wisdom. We thank you that it is our perfect peace. Help us, Lord, not to try and fit you into our plans, but to fit our plans into yours and to submit every one of them to you, to trust in you with all our heart and not to lean on our own understanding and in all our ways acknowledge you, knowing that you will direct our paths. How we thank you that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ and that if we will only look to him, then we will know that perfect peace and we will receive that strength to persevere to the end.
May that be so of every single one of us this evening in Jesus name. Amen.
The post God is Wise appeared first on Greenview Church.
32 episodes
Manage episode 426801773 series 1916669
Well, we’ve come to the end of this excellent series in the communicable attributes of God. These are his attributes which he is pleased to share, not in an absolute way, but in a gracious and a limited way with his children, with those who are amongst the family of God, who know God as our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We’ve looked at how God is love, God is holy, God is faithful, God is glorious, God is just.
Last week, God is patient, and this week, God is wise. I was thinking, obviously, this is election week coming up on Thursday, and I don’t think there has ever been a time, certainly in my life, when outright folly has just defined so much of the political situation that we have in our own day and generation, not only what we’ve been going through over the past few years, but indeed, what is being proposed, regardless of which political party, I’m not making any particular focus, but just so much unwise policy, so much folly bound up in the political parties, because there is no regard at all for God or his standards, and we’re reminded, aren’t we, of the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So, there is such an enormous need for wisdom, not only in our national life, but in particular, and this is what I want us to be thinking about this evening, in our individual personal lives, there is an enormous need for all of us to have true wisdom, and so it is such an encouragement that wisdom is one of God’s communicable attributes.
It’s different from his perfect knowledge, his omniscience. None of us is omniscient. That is one of his incommunicable attributes, but as we read in James 1, verse 5, if any of us lacks wisdom, we should ask God for it, because he gives graciously and generously to all without finding fault, without reproach.
So, just to start us off, I think it’s important just that we think a little bit about what wisdom means. So, we want to look, first of all, at God’s wisdom defined, and our key verse here, Isaiah 28, verse 29, where we read, all this comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent. Let’s remember that all of God’s attributes are perfect.
They could not be any better than they are, and his wisdom is no exception. His wisdom is magnificent. His wisdom is excellent.
So, we want to think a little bit about what that means, and then we’ll think a bit more, in a bit more detail, about how God’s wisdom is displayed in all sorts of various ways. So, let’s think in a more abstract way about a definition for wisdom. It’s a word that is used a lot in Scripture, and indeed Scripture helps us a bit, because it uses similar words alongside wisdom, which shows that it is distinct from it.
So, first of all, wisdom is more than knowledge. A very good friend of mine from university, who, well, he wasn’t at university, he was a school friend of mine, but when he went up to university, he left after fifth year. I remember when he came back to see us at Christmastime, he had been exposed to the gospel, and some of you may remember the late Captain Stephen Anderson, and he said something which had really struck my friend, which was that universities are full of young people that are filled with knowledge, but there’s so little wisdom.
And, of course, that really is so true, isn’t it, that knowledge does not mean wisdom. We can have all the knowledge in the world, but if we don’t know how to use it properly, then it will count as nothing. Indeed, that’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, doesn’t he, that all knowledge is nothing without love.
And then it’s more than understanding. We may have incredible intellect, we may have incredible intelligence, but on a practical basis, we may completely lack common sense, we may lack any ability to put that understanding into practice. And wisdom is more than experience as well.
So often we hear of people, they do have a great deal of experience, but they keep making the same mistakes again and again, and I’m sure we can include ourselves under that heading. So wisdom is more than knowledge, it’s more than understanding, it’s more than experience. And I think that maybe a helpful definition would be it’s really all of the above put into practice, put into practical use in a way that is sensible and indeed beneficial.
(5:47 – 9:03)
Maybe that would be a somewhat cumbersome but hopefully helpful definition of wisdom. And we need to remember as well that there are two kinds of wisdom that are spoken of in the Bible, in particular within the New Testament, although alluded to in the Old Testament as well. There is the worldly wisdom of men, or indeed a demonic wisdom, and there is the heavenly wisdom of God, the heavenly wisdom of Christ.
Paul speaks in particular about this in 1 Corinthians, but James speaks about it as well in his letter, and we’ll look at both passages as we go on later on this evening. So having thought about what wisdom means in a kind of general conceptual way, let’s think perhaps of a definition for God’s wisdom. And there was a very helpful little book that I was reading just in preparation for this evening by a headteacher actually, not a theologian or a pastor, but a headteacher called Tim Shenton, a great little book called Our Perfect God.
And he defines God’s wisdom as his ability to choose from all possible alternatives and with perfect discernment the highest goal and to select and direct the best means to accomplish that goal. He chooses the right ends and means for the right reasons and directs and arranges all things in accordance with his purposes for his creatures. In this way, he makes all things subservient to his own glory.
And then there is no defect in his wisdom. There is no act of his that could ever be done more wisely. His wisdom is pure, loving, and good.
Doesn’t that make reference to some of the other attributes that we’ve been thinking about over these past few Sunday evenings? And it’s so important, isn’t it, really, to realize that God is the ultimate source of all perfect wisdom. Indeed, we were just singing there, weren’t we, that God’s wisdom is our perfect peace. There is nothing else that can bring true peace and comfort to our lives.
Even if we think of some of God’s other attributes, they could perhaps make him feel a little distant, the fact that he’s all-knowing and all-powerful. Yet, if we don’t focus on his wisdom, then we may feel there isn’t that connection with him, that he doesn’t take any interest in our lives, that he doesn’t have any real plan for our lives. So his wisdom is a profoundly pastoral and comforting truth about him, one of his most encouraging attributes in terms of help for us spiritually, pastoral help for us, the hymn helpfully saying that whose wisdom is my perfect peace.
(9:04 – 14:42)
So let’s think then just for a few minutes about the various ways in which God’s wisdom is displayed. And we can think, first of all, of God’s wisdom displayed in creation. It’s fascinating that there are several verses that actually make this point, but we’re going to look at Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 12.
But God made the earth by his power. He founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. And we could have an entire sermon focusing on this, but I want to just give you just a few thoughts about God’s wisdom displayed in creation in a way that I think is actually a very strong apologetic for speaking to non-Christians about, but also in terms of our own understanding of God, our own meditation on what a great and wise and glorious God he is.
So God displaces wisdom in the order and harmony of creation. It’s absolutely incredible when you think about all the different laws of physics that all work together. It’s often referred to as the fine tuning of the universe, how everything holds together.
And we know from Colossians and Hebrews, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1, that everything was made through Christ and for him, and he sustains all things and in him all things hold together. And our own generation, this is one of the things that just is so incredible and very sad in so many ways that we have never had a generation that has understood and appreciated and indeed seen so much of God’s glory in creation. Think of all the David Attenborough documentaries going deeper into the oceans than has ever happened before and seeing the beautiful color and diversity of the fish and other sea creatures there.
And yet in spite of all that knowledge, David Attenborough remains an atheist. And you would think that it was such a display of God’s glory in creation that more people would come to faith, but sadly such is our spiritual blindness that we don’t see God’s hand, so many of us, in that wonderful creation. So order and harmony, and then next beauty and variety.
Again, these nature programs that we see on television, and indeed just simply on a lovely day like today, just experiencing the lovely summer weather, the sunshine, the rich colors, the flowers in the garden, all these things display God’s glory. So much beauty, so much variety. And then intricacy and complexity.
Next, again, the irreducible complexity of the molecule is one of the great arguments for a creator, those of you who’ve looked into that subject. And I think it is one of the strongest arguments that unless all these different components were in existence, in every single molecule, life would not exist. There’s that incredible detail that God has gone to in the creation of every living thing.
And then next, functionality and purpose. Isn’t it amazing just how the whole of creation works together? I was just thinking back to lessons in secondary school about photosynthesis and the way that oxygen is kind of created through trees and plants, and just how the whole ecosystems all work together in such a beneficial way that we have just the right kind of atmosphere that allows creatures, human beings and animals, to breathe and to function. All these things, we could go into so much more detail, but just the functionality and purpose of so much in creation, all the variety of fruit and vegetables and spices and herbs and plants, all these things that God has created that have such a benefit for us in all sorts of different ways, in particular, nutrients for us to be able to live healthy lives.
All part of his final point, which is abundance and provision that we read in Genesis, don’t we, about God having given all these seed-bearing plants and fruits, really, for us to eat. And we can see that having continued down through the ages, even to our own day and generation. So, we could go into a lot more detail about these, but I don’t want to dwell on them too much.
But this verse there in Jeremiah 10 verse 12 is repeated in Proverbs and Psalms and elsewhere in the Old Testament too, that God’s creation of the heavens and the earth is by his wisdom. So, moving on to the next thing about God’s wisdom being displayed is in revelation, what God says. So, if God’s wisdom is seen, first of all, in creation and what he makes.
(14:43 – 17:30)
Secondly, it’s seen in revelation, what he says. And of course, we have the Bible that explains to us so much about God. First of all, what it says about himself, what God has revealed of himself in Scripture.
He’s revealed as the creator and the sustainer of all things. He is the glorious, majestic God with all these amazing attributes, some of which we’ve been thinking about over these past few weeks, but also the incommunicable ones, the fact that he is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, all-knowing. He is eternal.
He is unchangeable. All these different attributes. But he’s also holy and righteous.
No injustice in him. Just thinking of new verses, just Exodus that speaks about God doing wonders and majestic in all sorts of ways. As well as Scripture revealing about God himself and his character and his attributes, Scripture, of course, also speaks about us as human beings.
We read that we are made in the image of God, Genesis 1, 27. We read in Psalm 8 that we are made a little lower than the angels. And we find that that’s not the full story, but it is the starting point that Scripture gives us to show that we are image bearers of God himself.
He has made us what theologians call vice regents of creation and has given us many responsibilities to steward the earth and its resources and to live in a way that pleases God. And that brings about the next thing that God has revealed, which he reveals his ways. There’s the verse from Deuteronomy 32, verse 4, speaking of God, he is the rock.
His works are perfect and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. And of course, we have God’s ways revealed progressively through the Old Testament.
There’s hints of his perfect law through Genesis and then more fully in Exodus with the giving of the Ten Commandments. And then we’ve got all sorts of additional what we might call secondary legislation there in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Numbers. And then we’ve got so much in the wisdom literature, in Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes, so much that is revealed to us of God and his ways and what wise living looks like.
(17:32 – 24:30)
But also, of course, what is revealed to us in Scripture is the fact that we did not retain our original innocence, that as we read in Genesis 3, there was the fall of humanity. Adam and Eve, our first appearance, gave in to temptation from the serpent and sinned. And throughout the whole of the Old and the New Testament, time and time again, God reveals our sin and our need of forgiveness.
Right from the coverings that God provided for Adam and Eve, they tried to provide their own covering. And of course, that was inadequate. It was God himself alone who could provide covering for their sin.
And we see that the gospel in microcosm there in Genesis. And of course, with Abel’s offering there as well, referred to so many times in the New Testament as being acceptable to God because it was that sacrifice of another life laid down on behalf of the one bringing worship. And that’s the principle that’s run all the way through the Old Testament.
We’ll come back to that in a minute in terms of what Christ has done. So God has shown his wisdom in revealing in Scripture about himself, about us, about his ways, and about our sin and need. And then moving on very much from that, God has also displayed his wisdom, the magnificence of his wisdom, ultimately in salvation, what he has done for us in Christ.
And there’s so many verses we could look at, but I want to look in particular at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, because it’s so opposite to what we’re thinking about this evening. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, where we read there, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God, that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. This is a truly magnificent verse that just goes into, just sums up so succinctly what Christ being the wisdom of God actually means.
First of all, he is our righteousness, and that’s echoing the teaching in Jeremiah of the Lord, our righteousness. So how is it that the Lord himself, the Lord Jesus, is our righteousness? Well, we see from the book of Romans that none of us is righteous. There is not one of us who’s righteous.
We read that in Romans 3. In fact, really the whole, the first three chapters of Romans spells out that regardless of our background, whether we have a lot of spiritual privileges, as David was sharing with us this morning, as the Pharisees had, or whether we are out-and-out pagans, then none of us is righteous before God. All have sinned and fallen short of his glory. And we need what theologians call an alien righteousness, a righteousness that is apart from the law, that is apart from anything that we could do.
But in the gospel, in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have that perfect righteousness. He lived the life that none of us had lived, that none of us could have lived, that perfect life that God required, which Christ fulfilled, that theologians often call the covenant of works, that he had obeyed God’s law to perfection. Adam and Eve, of course, failed to obey what God had said.
But as the hymn writer says so wonderfully, O matchless wisdom of our God, when all was sin and shame, a second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came. And that second Adam, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ, who by his perfectly righteous life and perfect obedience to all God’s commands, lived that life that we had not lived, that we could never live. And in the gospel, we are clothed with that perfect righteousness of Christ.
Think of Zechariah there, sorry, Joshua in the prophecy of Zechariah, Joshua the high priest, with the filthy robes taken off him and the clean robes put on him. That’s a wonderful picture there of us being clothed in the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us and received by faith that great imputation that Christ’s righteousness is credited, is imputed to us so that we are counted righteous in Christ and accepted in the beloved. And then next, there was a righteous that we could never provide ourselves but is graciously and freely provided for us in the gospel, the wisdom of God in Christ.
And then holiness, and this is very much the word that means holy living, a holy life, that it’s something that even as Christians, we cannot live in our own strength, but it is Christ’s righteousness even as we live from day to day, as we live by faith in him, relying on his grace, relying on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that that holiness of Christ is worked out progressively in terms of transformation from our conversion right the way through to the end of our lives, or our being called home to be with the Lord, or until he comes, that there’s that work of Christ in our lives, conforming us more and more by his Spirit to his likeness. And then lastly, you’re probably wondering, where does forgiveness come in here? Well, it’s there as well. In this last word, redemption.
Now, there are two words for redemption in the Greek, and this is the really full one. This is the one that is quoted in Ephesians, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. So it is referring there to us being redeemed, purchased by the blood of Christ.
But it’s also used in Romans 8, where it speaks of us groaning and awaiting the redemption of our bodies. And the word, which if you want to know the Greek, it’s apolatrosis. And it really has a sense of meaning of release, of actually being set free.
(24:31 – 25:38)
The slave is no longer a slave, but he’s been set free. And of course, this is the great truth of redemption. I’m sure most of you are familiar with this, but for those of you who aren’t, it’s a really important truth to remember, that we are set free from the penalty of sin as we are justified by faith in Christ.
And there’s the righteousness imputed to us. All our sins forgiven because of the cross. We’re set free increasingly and progressively from the power of sin in our lives as we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
And then finally, when we are called to be home with the Lord, and indeed ultimately, when we receive our resurrection bodies, that is the ultimate fulfillment of redemption, where we are released from the very presence of sin. And for those of us who will die before the Lord comes, that’s at the moment of our death. And those of us who remain when Christ returns, that change in an instant when we are set free, even from the presence of sin, and we are changed in a moment.
(25:39 – 31:39)
So the whole span of salvation in this one glorious verse, the wisdom of God for us in Christ, who has become for us wisdom from God. And everything about God’s plan is focused and encapsulated in Christ and all that he has done for us in the gospel. And that is the great hope for every Christian, not in anything that we could do, not in anything that we have done, but in the Christ alone in what he has done for us.
When I was thinking in preparing this, I thought perhaps of finishing with that because what greater high point could there be than Christ? But I want to finish this evening with what a number of the commentaries would, or at least the systematic theologies would put as the second point. But I think actually this is important to finish with, and that is God’s wisdom displayed in providence, or to have a rhyming one with creation and salvation, orchestration. Because I think that is actually a good analogy, what God plans.
We often speak about an event being carefully orchestrated, very well organized, very well planned, very well executed, extremely well orchestrated is what we say, but of course it is a musical term. And I think this is a helpful one because God is the composer and the conductor, but all of us are the musicians, you could say. And I hope that is a helpful analogy that stresses God’s sovereignty, but also our responsibility, and the fact that God uses means, and in particular he uses his people, and he uses all human beings to fulfill his purposes.
There are primary causes that God, through his sovereign will, has designed for his glory, but there’s a reality of what we call secondary causes as well, that each of us has a part to play in the plan of God, in the mystery of his providence. We are not passive, we have an important role to play. God enables us in all these things, and yet there are important choices to be made, and things that we need to be involved with doing to fulfill his plan, and just getting the balance of that right is one of the great struggles within Christian theology, isn’t it? But I think that the idea of an orchestra where God is the composer and the conductor, but we are the musicians.
So, again a definition of providence, or God’s orchestration of all things for his glory, from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, God’s work of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. And a few verses to think about here, Proverbs 16 verse 4, the Lord works out everything to its proper end, even the wicked for the day of disaster. And one of the best examples in the Old Testament of God’s divine sovereignty, and the human element in particular with the problem of sin and evil, which I know I have not touched on a great deal, but this is a great example of how God is even able to turn the wrath of men to praise him.
At the end of Joseph’s life, Genesis 50 verse 20, he says to his brothers, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Then of course, well-known verse in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11, and him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. A great key verse there on the providence of God working everything in conformity, working out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.
And of course, I could not leave this section without Romans 8 28, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. And again, just a kind of what you might call the kind of New Testament equivalent of Joseph’s experience in terms of looking at the cross and what was happening there. Acts 2 23, this man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
I think that’s the clearest example there of man’s culpability in the most evil act that ever happened in the whole history of the world. The help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him on the cross, and yet this was God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge. So keeping those two things in tension is so important for us to understand.
(31:43 – 32:29)
So I want us just to, because God’s wisdom is a communicable attribute, I want us to think just for the last few minutes on how God’s wisdom is displayed through us. And this will take a lot of thinking about, but I’m just going to look at it very briefly at these points, really going back over these four points and seeing how they apply to us in terms of our own lives. But first of all, I want us to think just to go back to the two kinds of wisdom, because we are constantly tempted to go with the world’s wisdom, aren’t we? So let’s look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians.
(32:31 – 34:58)
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand science and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, there it is again, for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
We’re facing in our own day and generation a detailed way of looking at life, a detailed worldview that I don’t think has ever been seen in quite such a way in human history that takes a great deal of effort to refute and to dismantle, but it’s absolutely essential that we do and that we identify it as the fallen and fallible and flawed wisdom of this world that seems so convincing but is utterly false. Indeed, it is the folly of human wisdom spoken of here. We can look as well at James 3, if you look that up, James chapter 3, where we find verses 13 to 18, who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Isn’t that a lovely description of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ? Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. Such a lovely passage there but such a challenging one of the utter contrast between the world’s wisdom and its bitter fruit and godly wisdom and its good fruit.
(34:59 – 38:36)
So I wanted just to mention them just in context as we think about how we can live lives under God through the indwelling Holy Spirit in ways that honour God. So again, just in creativity, we’re not ultimate creators but we are creative individuals. The things that we do, there ought to be order and harmony.
We should be doing things that are beautiful with variety. Attention to detail is so important, intricacy and complexity. We should be doing things, whatever our abilities, whatever our skills, whatever gifts we have, that have a functionality and a purpose and indeed in ways that we are able to provide for others.
If we are either providing for ourselves or providing for our spouses, providing for our families with that provision and indeed that abundance that if we are honouring God then there should be that surplus, shall we say, in terms of what we’re able to generate in terms of income that we’re able to give generously to the Lord’s work and indeed to other good causes that were created for the good works that God has created in Christ for good works there. And even under God’s common grace, I’m just thinking there are many great things in our modern age and generation. We’ve got clean running water, we’ve got forms of transport that just didn’t exist 150 years ago, that we all take for granted that are a result of human ingenuity and creativity, all as a result of those abilities being given by God through his grace, his common grace for all.
But as Christians surely we need to be taking seriously the fact that we are created in Christ for good works. And then in communication, what we say. What we say is so important, but again reflecting what God has revealed of himself in scripture.
What are we saying about God? Are we, as his ambassadors, as Christ’s witnesses, are we accurate in what we’re saying about God to others? How we view ourselves, how we communicate with others about ourselves as those image bearers of Christ being recreated in that image and renewed in that image daily? About God’s ways, are we honoring his ways as we speak of them in our lives? About our sin and need, are we honest with ourselves and with others about the fact that we depend on God’s grace every single moment that we live? We never ought to feel that we’ve arrived, we never ought to be proud, we never ought to have a superior attitude, thinking that we’ve somehow made it already and others haven’t in the Christian walk. And then thinking of salvation, not really what our responsibility, what we do in Christ. And there’s so many aspects, and of course it transforms our whole lives.
(38:37 – 39:29)
Every aspect of our lives ought to be lived for God’s glory. Paul says we should no longer live for ourselves, but for him who for our sakes died and rose again. Peter says that Christ died, he offered himself there, he gave himself for our sins on his body on the tree.
He died there on our behalf that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. So it’s really our whole lives ought to be lived for Christ, and that is our daily devotion to him, our own personal walk, our witness to others, our fellowship with God’s people, the service, the good works that God has prepared for us, the service that we are called to do. Not to put ourselves right with him, but as a result of ourselves having been made right in Christ.
(39:31 – 40:46)
And then lastly, I want to think about this orchestration. God has his plans, but all of us have our plans for our lives. And I’ve been really burdened to speak on this because from listening to so many stories of people down in my own life who have once walked the path of faith, but because of our hard providence, because things haven’t worked out as they planned, because of suffering, because of loss, because of tragedy, because of deep, deep disappointment in one way or another, they either walk away from the faith or they lose their joy and bitterness and resentment takes root.
And they just lead a joyless existence all the rest of their days. And that’s an absolute tragedy. And it’s a danger that could face, indeed does face, I believe, every single one of us.
(40:47 – 43:26)
I was thinking just with what David was saying this morning, so challenging his word. And I think maybe to build on that this evening, I think it’s important for us to be honest with ourselves about the disappointments in our lives and whether we’ve let a root of bitterness or resentment take root in our lives, whether that has affected how we feel about God, whether we’re really questioning his wisdom in these hard providences, which are always brought to teach us, which are always brought to help us grow. But for so many of us, and certainly I can testify to this myself, it’s very, very easy just to feel some resentment because of a hard providence that has come into my life.
And just in closing, I want just to share something that was very helpful for me many years ago and I’ve thought about so often over the last several decades. And I hadn’t really noticed until I was thinking about it how much God’s wisdom is included in this poem because it helps us to see that:
Disappointment, His appointment. Change one letter, then I see
that the thwarting of my purpose is God’s better choice for me.
His appointment must be blessing, though it may come in disguise,
For the end from the beginning, open to His wisdom, lies.
Disappointment, His appointment. Whose? The Lord’s who loves me best,
understands and knows me fully, who my faith and love would test.
For like loving earthly parent, He rejoices when He knows
that His child accepts unquestioned all that from His wisdom flows.
Disappointment, His appointment. No good thing will He withhold.
From denials oft we gather treasures of His love untold.
Well, He knows each broken purpose leads to fuller, deeper trust,
and the end of all His dealings proves our God is wise and just.
Disappointment, His appointment. Lord, I take it then as such,
like the clay in hands of potter, yielding wholly to thy touch.
All my life plan is thy moulding, not one single choice be mine.
Let me answer unrepining, “Father, not my will, but thine”.
Let’s pray together. Heavenly father, how we thank you for your wisdom. We thank you that it is our perfect peace. Help us, Lord, not to try and fit you into our plans, but to fit our plans into yours and to submit every one of them to you, to trust in you with all our heart and not to lean on our own understanding and in all our ways acknowledge you, knowing that you will direct our paths. How we thank you that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ and that if we will only look to him, then we will know that perfect peace and we will receive that strength to persevere to the end.
May that be so of every single one of us this evening in Jesus name. Amen.
The post God is Wise appeared first on Greenview Church.
32 episodes
All episodes
×Welcome to Player FM!
Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.