Day 20 | 40-Day Lenten Fast & Devotional

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. -Proverbs 2:1-6

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Grace and peace be unto all of you, my Father's children. It is in fact day 20 of our 40-day Lenten devotional. Can you believe it? We're halfway, that halfway point of us. We pushed through  this season  of God working through us and God working with us. This week, we've been discussing the  area and place of discernment, being able to hear God's word.  Better yet, being able to really understand and to distinguish God's voice. Major area that I think has been a blessing. So we're going to continue in that same vein, that same fashion, take a look at the book of Proverbs, the second chapter. I'm going to read a little bit out of the first portion.

Proverbs chapter two, verse one, “my son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it  as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. The Lord gives wisdom from his mouth, come knowledge and understanding.” 

There's this place where Solomon gives these adages and these perspectives that give us marching orders as we maneuver through life. The book of Proverbs almost reads like an old book of grandma's best sayings, for a life well lived. Solomon asked for wisdom. That was  his request from God, which is astute in and of itself. And some of the things that he discussed really give balance to a life that ultimately he was given or bestowed upon with wisdom. I love this. I love this because he says, listen, things like wisdom are things that you search for. They should be something that you covet. He says, listen, if you call out for insight, speaking on it, some of the ways that we can oftentimes be active in our situation is to acknowledge that we don't know and ask for help. This is to call out for insight, cry aloud for understanding. Most of us are quick oftentimes to draw our own conclusions, but it is the caution embedded in saying, on, let me take a beat.

I'm not going to assume that I recognize and or I know what I'm looking at or I know what the next step is.  Instead, I'm going to take time to seek God's face. I'm going to take a moment to hear a wise word. Most of us in the heat of situations often miss those opportunity where God drops nuggets of wisdom, whether it be through people, whether through circumstance, all because we're anxious to find ourself at the end.

What Solomon lets us know is that we need to take a beat. Sometimes our first thought's not our best thought. Seeking wisdom, also, our first move is not always our best move. Sometimes it really requires us to seek God, to search for God before we react, before we make a statement, before we go too far, before we move. And the question I have for you is, are you moving under the auspice of your own understanding on your own wisdom? Or have you taken the time to see God's face? Have you taken the time to hear the word of the Lord? Have you taken the time to even hear something that may be in contrast to what your initial thought was? That's what wisdom is. Wisdom is not being anxious. Wisdom is taking the time to be.

And if we took our time to be correct, our relationships would probably be better. Our interactions would probably be smoother. And ultimately, our decisions would be more concise.

So on today, take a moment, look around you, see God's face, his wisdom. That's where discernment is found. I pray that you have an incredible day. I'm going to see you tonight. We have Bible study tonight.

And of course, another great Lenten meal for you. So don't miss it. I'll see you  6 o'clock p.m.  tonight. We'll talk soon. Be blessed.  Have an incredible Thursday.