REFOCUS
Based on Provers 4:1 you can use the following as an affirmation of God’s leadership in your life. Agree with God as you breathe the phrases in and out;
“You will teach me in the way of wisdom,
You will lead me on the path of life.”
READ
Proverbs 4:6-7
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.
Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Proverbs 1: 20-23
20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square;
21 On top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech:
22 How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
REFLECT
Truth and Consequences
One of the most popular game shows of all time was a show known as “Truth or Consequences.” The show featured one of the more famous TV hosts, Bob Barker, who would ask a contestant a question. Often these were jokes like this one, “What do you call someone who travels across the ocean twice without taking a bath?” (Answer: “A dirty double-crosser”).
If the contestant answered the challenge correctly, they would win a prize. If they failed to come up with the answer before “Beulah the Buzzer” sounded, they had to pay the consequence. These were normally something silly but fun to watch – things like riding a six-foot unicycle for the first time, eating soup with a fork, or having a practical joke played on them.
The contestants had only a few seconds to come up with an answer that would save them from the “consequences.” The game called for quick decision-making skills – ones that at the time seemed almost impossible to get right.
Researchers tell us that life contains more choices than we may even be aware of. In a single day, they report that the average adult will make about 35,000 choices. Many of these have become almost automatic (we don’t have to decide whether to use a fork or a spoon to eat soup).
Like the game show, others require snap decisions. But life is no game. The consequences for wrong choices range from inconvenience to devastation.
The Bible often speaks of making choices. It calls the process “wisdom.” Yet, to understand what it is teaching us, we need to put away many of the popular ideas of wisdom. Popular images of wisdom are often ones of old men sitting cross-legged and dispensing pithy sayings.
They include cultural icons like Yoda and ancient Greek philosophers. Perhaps they even include various forms of “counseling.” These imply that wisdom is reserved for people with unusual abilities and special gifting.
In contrast, the Bible describes wisdom as something available to all. One of several books in the Bible devoted to wisdom begins by telling us that it “shouts in the streets.” In other words, it is readily available to those who are observant.
That availability is due partly to a different way of defining wisdom in the Bible than in popular culture. The Bible’s definition of wisdom can be understood as “knowing and living by the consequences of our actions.”
In other words, it is taking the time to “play the tape forward,” to envision what could happen if I take a certain path rather than acting on urges, pressure, or emotions. Once I have an idea of those consequences, wisdom involves lining up my behavior with those consequences. Not to do so, according to the Bible, is to play the role of the “fool.”
Some might ask, “how do I know the consequences?” It turns out that the Bible has much to say about this as well. Much wisdom, it tells us is found “in the streets” and “at the gates.” That is, it is recounting and taking stock of the experience of failure and success that life brings. It involves, therefore, taking the time to reflect on our lives – especially from God’s perspective.
Likewise, wisdom can be gained from the experience of others that we observe around us. Much of life’s wisdom is based on the truth that there are predictable consequences that occur for an action.
Yet while experience is a great teacher of wisdom, it is a painful one. The Bible goes beyond our own experience when it announces that “The Book” itself is a treasure trove of wisdom. Each part of the Bible speaks to the truth of consequences in different ways.
There we find stories of people’s triumphs and failures. They constantly remind us of the results of our behavior and thoughts.
We find laws and commandments that remind us of the eternal predictability of these consequences. The prophetic writings contain warnings of consequences that went unheeded and ended in disaster. The epistles give us clear teaching on how to avoid negative outcomes and gain positive ones. The Bible is full of wisdom.
We are also given instructions on how to find wisdom. We are instructed to pray and to ask others to pray for us. The very process of taking time to pray requires measuring our thoughts, desires, emotions, and actions by the truth of God’s Word and the consequences it reveals.
Involving others into prayer (not just collecting opinions) invites their understanding of truth and consequences, as well.
The beauty is that as we begin to reflect on and then act on these principles, the decisions become part of us. Like most of the choices we make they become automatic. More and more, we grow to be people formed by good decisions.
They become, the Proverb says, like “beautiful rings on our fingers and a crown on our head.” Those are some great consequences – and that’s the truth!
RESPOND
Questions to Consider
- What are some behaviors you know have positive consequences in your life
- What behaviors are you convinced result in negative consequences?
- We may know the consequences of something yet not act according to them. What are some things you have found that keep people who know the consequences from actually living in light of them?
Prayer
This is a prayer from scripture that is a general prayer. You may wish to begin with this, then praying specifically for those issues that you need guidance on.
Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Blessings,
Rev. James R. Needham, PhD, MDiv