(By Theanna Joyce)
Who is God? This month we celebrated Jesus as the Son of God who was crucified for our sins and then rose on the third day — Hallelujah! We know God as Creator, Provider, Healer, Comforter, and King. He is Love, the source of life and wisdom. And, He is so much more.
Yet we need to be careful not to get lost in all of these descriptors and titles and risk missing the reality behind them. Each of these titles, and all of them combined, mean something significant.
God is Creator, but that doesn't mean we can thank Him for making the earth and then continue on with our day. Rather, since He is Creator, He knows how our bodies function and what we need to thrive; He knows our limits and our weaknesses (our capacities and our strengths). He knows all this and more because He created us.
Thus, our response to recognizing God as Creator should be to trust Him when He calls us to walk out in something big or hard, or when He tells us to rest and breathe — because He knows, and nothing is outside of His creative power to restore and redeem.
I've always loved the poetry and logic of 1 Corinthians 1. Paul launches an attack on the mindset of the world that dares hold itself above God's wisdom and intelligence. Quoting Isaiah, Paul writes, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent" (1 Corinthians 1:19).
Our culture is constantly telling us that we get to decide what is good, what is wise, and what is right. Yet, if we pause to consider who God is, then we'll come to a completely different conclusion. Proverbs 3:5-6 are such well-known verses (hint hint, do not lean on your own understanding…), but I think that since we're so accustomed to the words of the passage, we forget to check if we're actually listening to it.
It is so easy to lean on our own understanding — because it's what we know! We tend to forget verse 7 that reads, "Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil" (Proverbs 3:7).
This past month the Holy Spirit has been convicting me of some areas in my life where I've held onto my own understanding and desires and been unwilling to submit to God's wisdom. I want to challenge you to sit down with God and maybe a notebook and ask Him where you've been relying on your own wisdom rather than on His.
When Eve looked at that fruit in the Garden of Eden, it was beautiful. It looked good. So she took it, and it led to her death and the death of all who came after. God knew what was best — He knew that the fruit meant death, but rather than submitting to His wisdom, she ate.
There are so many things out there in the world that look good, and if we lean on our own wisdom, we might be reaching out to something that looks good but leads to death. I pray that this week God helps you to identify areas where you have been relying on your own understanding and that He will help you submit to His wisdom, for He is God and He is good.
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