GET TOGETHER- Faith and Wisdom
Joh 7:1 ¶ After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. (NKJV) Lu 8:23-25 But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
I don’t know about you, but there have been times when the enemy has tried to convince me that my faith was lacking when there was something that God had given me wisdom about. Then on the other hand we can sometimes try to lean on our own understanding of how things look in the natural and not move out or exercise our faith.
The good news for us who serve in the Kingdom is that faith and wisdom are not in competition with each other. The Bible tells us in Pr 2:6,7 “For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.” It also tells us in Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (NKJV)
Sometimes God call us to step out in faith and to maybe take some type of risk that we will know that it is only God that could have made it happen and only God can get the glory from it. At other times God gives us the wisdom of how to avoid a situation that might be very dangerous, or life threatening to us.
In the passage from John hatred for the Lord Jesus had really began to fester among the Pharisees and others in Judea. He knew that it was not His time. Surely, He could have called angels there to protect Him. But He exercised wisdom and stayed out of Judea until it was the appointed time.
In the passage from Luke, we see Him exercise His power over the winds and the stormy seas. He chastised the disciples about their lack of faith. So, we can see here that in this situation it is a time for the disciples to have faith in the Lord Jesus to calm the storm and to know that He would bring them through the storm. He asks them “where is your faith?”
This week I felt like the Holy Spirit gave me a picture that if I am on the bank and I see it lightning out on the water that He is going to give me the wisdom to stay there and to wait until the storm is over. Now an exception would be if there was some reason that I absolutely had to go out, or across that water for some reason. And then I would have to walk in faith that God would protect me from the storm until whatever had to be done was done. And the same would be true if I was out in the water and a storm came up. I would walk in faith that the Lord would take care of me.
Summing this up what I am trying to say is that from time to time as Christians we are called to take risks and we will have to walk in faith. On the other hand, as the Holy Spirit gave Jesus the wisdom to stay out of Judea until the appointed time. We can trust that the Holy Spirit will give us the wisdom to avoid dangerous situations. He may have us take a detour to avoid a life-threatening situation. Or there may be many other things that He gives us the wisdom to do, or not to do so that we can fulfill our destiny here upon the earth. So, for all of us today may we know that operating in faith is not lacking in wisdom. And that using wisdom is not a lack of faith.
Let Us Pray
Lord Jesus, we thank You that you impart faith to us to help us to see You do great and mighty things in Your Kingdom. We also are so thankful that You give us wisdom. We pray that we will walk so closely to You that we will hear the Holy Spirit guide us in using wisdom and exercising our faith.
In Jesus Name
Amen
Love You All
Your Friend/Kinfolk
Preston
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