Our theme for this month: “Wisdom”
Our theme for next month: “Taking care of your soul.”
Our Bible verse for today: “O God, You are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for You; my whole body longs for You in this dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Biblical wisdom leads us to truly know God.”
We began this month of devotional thoughts on the subject of Biblical wisdom by considering the difference between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is largely just an accumulation of facts. Wisdom is the ability to make good decisions based upon what we know. Biblical wisdom leads us to make choices that are right and true and of lasting value. It also leads us to a deeper understanding of God and His ways and to live in a way that is consistent with that godly wisdom.
But actually, the ultimate object of acquiring Biblical wisdom is so we can know God – really know Him, as the most real person in our lives and it will cause us to want to me more like Him. Biblical wisdom doesn’t just change our behavior, it changes our character and it makes us more like Him.
Philip Yancey is one of my favorite Christian authors. He once went through a time when he was deeply disappointed with the quality of his relationship with the Lord. His faith was based more on knowledge about God than on a relationship with Him, and it therefore seemed shallow and not very satisfying. So Philip went off to a cabin in the mountains for an extended period of prayer and immersion in the Bible as he sought to encounter God in a deeper and more personal way. He recorded the results in his book “Disappointment with God”:
“Simply reading the Bible, I encountered not a misty vapor but an actual Person. A Person as unique and distinctive and colorful as any person I know. God has deep emotions; he feels delight and frustration and anger … I was unprepared for the joy and anguish – in short, the passion – of the God of the Universe. By studying “about” God, by taming him and reducing him to words and concepts that could be filed away in alphabetical order, I had lost the force of the passionate relationship God seeks above all else. The people who related to God best – Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah – treated him with startling familiarity. They talked to God as if he were sitting in a chair beside them, as one might talk to a counselor, a boss, a parent, or a lover. They treated him like a person.”
The ultimate purpose of pursing Biblical wisdom is to encounter God as a real Person. We want to know Him as the most real person in our lives, and we want to adopt His character traits. The highest compliment a child can pay a parent is in their attempt to mimic the parent’s behavior. Biblical wisdom makes us more like our Heavenly Father. Biblical wisdom also leads to a healthy soul, which is the subject we will explore in June.
God Bless,
Oak Hill Baptist Church 