WISDOM’S
WAY
BREAD
6 Surely
you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Psalms
51:6 (NIV)
10 The
fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs
eternal praise. Psalms 111:10 (NIV)
6 For
the Lord gives wisdom, and from
his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holds victory in store for
the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of
the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. 9 Then you will understand what
is right and just and fair--every good path. 10 For wisdom will enter your
heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you. 12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from
men whose words are perverse, 13 who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, 14 who delight in doing wrong and
rejoice in the perverseness of evil, 15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their
ways. 16 It
will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her
seductive words, 17 who
has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
18 For
her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. 19 None who go to her return or
attain the paths of life. 20 Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to
the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land, and the
blameless will remain in it; 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the
unfaithful will be torn from it. Proverbs
2:6-22 (NIV)
5 “Get
wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. 6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she
will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. 7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore
get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. 8 Esteem her, and she will exalt
you; embrace her, and she will honor you. 9 She will set a garland of grace on your head and
present you with a crown of splendor.” Proverbs
4:5-9 (NIV)
5 If any
of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without
finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must
believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown
and tossed by the wind. 7 That
man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man,
unstable in all he does. James 1:5-8
(NIV)
BUTTER
“We
judge things by their present appearance; but the Lord sees them in their consequences. If we could do the same we would be perfectly
of His mind; but since we can’t, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage
for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is regarded
as one of His heaviest judgments when He gives any person up to the way of
their own hearts, and to walk according to their own wisdom.” John
Newton
“The
one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies,
prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom,
but trembles when we pray.” Samuel
Chadwick
“His
wisdom’s vast, and knows no bounds, a deep where all our thoughts are drowned.” Isaac
Watts
“Peacemakers are people who breathe grace. They draw continually on the goodness and
power of Jesus Christ, and then they bring His love, mercy, forgiveness,
strength and wisdom to the conflicts of daily life. God delights to breathe His grace through
peacemakers and use them to dissipate anger, improve understanding, promote
justice and encourage repentance and restoration.” Ken Sande
“Most
of us go through life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for
position, hoping but never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly
afraid that we will miss the way. There
is a better way. It is to repudiate our
own wisdom and take instead the infinite wisdom of God…..God has charged
Himself with full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to
take over the management of our lives the moment we turn in faith to Him.” A. W.
Tozer
“The fatuous idea
that a person can be holy by himself denies God the pleasure of saving
sinners. God must therefore first take
the sledge-hammer of the Law in His fists and smash the beast of self-righteousness
and its brood of self-confidence, self-wisdom, self-righteousness, and
self-help. When the conscience has been
thoroughly frightened by the Law it welcomes the Gospel of grace with its
message of a Savior Who came….not to break the bruised reed, nor to quench the
smoking flax, but to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the
broken-hearted, and to grant forgiveness of sins to all the captives.” Martin Luther
“All of our behaviors—both
our obedience and our sin—stem from the object (or objects) of our worship.
This truth helps us see Gods amazing wisdom in how he ordered the Ten
Commandments, choosing to begin, of course, with this mandate: Thou shalt have
no other gods before me (Exod. 20:3 KJV). Martin Luther, writing in his
commentary on this section of Scripture, said, ‘Where the heart is rightly
disposed toward God, and this commandment is observed, all the others
follow. In other words, a person cannot
break Commandments Two through Ten without first breaking Commandment One. Our
obedience to God in practical matters flows from our unadulterated worship of
him as a central matter.’” Ed
Stetzer
HEART
SAVOR
- · I am to get wisdom and understanding and not swerve from them.
- · Wisdom is supreme – I am to esteem and embrace her.
- · True wisdom is from God and only from God. Faulty flesh will fail me every time.
