Welcome 2022. Truly.
Last week, I listened to a podcast by John Cooper (lead singer of the group Skillet) on Facebook. He brought up this verse from Proverbs in the podcast, and it has stuck with me ever since. I think it will be my verse focus this year (Remember when we all started blogging and adopted words/verses for the year? Perhaps it’s a worthy habit to return to … a way to re-engage our hearts and, most importantly, our minds on better things.)
Wisdom. Where can she be found? Who’s looking for her? Who’s settling for less? Who thinks they have more? Who thinks they have best? To what lengths might we travel to hold her treasure?
To the ends of the earth?
The ends of the earth. How does one get there? Getting to the ends of the earth has never been easier for us. The internet is happy to oblige in this regard. We troll and scroll, like and share, emoji and meme, and just generally trip our way through endless #searchingforwisdom websites and links. The cacophony of voices competing for our attention is incalculable. This endless pursuit of wisdom via the cyber-sphere is a thought that resonated with Cooper. It resonates with me as well. You?
For the past two years, I’ve spent a lot of time wandering around on-line, searching the “ends of the earth” for wisdom. Some of that searching has yielded valuable truth. A lot of it has yielded a treasure trove of nothingness – a vain attempt at grasping for truth only to realize, in the end, its vaporous deceit.
Satan is pleased. He’s the master of such treachery. And if he can pull us away from truth by dangling endless resources in front of our fingertips to “help” us in our search for wisdom, then his devilish schemes have occupied a space in our minds that should be reserved for the true fount of wisdom – Jesus Christ. As Jarrin Jackson often says, “In through the ears and through the eyes for the domination of the key terrain of the mind, for the prize of the soul.”
Our minds are the gatekeepers of our souls. We should do better about guarding that gate. Keeping it solid. Stopping the turnstile from revolving. There are no open borders in wisdom’s territory. Instead, wisdom builds a fortress around her land and secures it with watchtowers of the Word and the sentinel of the Spirit of the living, one and only true God.
It should be an easy choice for believers … our default. So often it is not.
So here I am, nine days into a new year, vacillating between two women – a foolish one and a wise one. For the health of my soul, it is a wrestling that must be decided.
Wisdom. It has never been more vital to our survival than now.
Go get her in 2022, friends. Gather her. Grow her. Guard her. Give her.
Keep her in view by keeping your fingertips on the gilded pages of God’s Word. She will never lead you to a dead end. Instead, wisdom will lead you to the place where you were always meant to live. As always…
Peace for the journey,
For those of you who follow Jadon’s story, we had the wonderful privilege of hearing him preach the Word this morning – “The Good Law and the Glorious Gospel”.
Always timely, my sweet sister. I found myself doing the very same thing, in 2021. I had to pull myself away from some social media networks and focus on the Lord and my family. It’s so overwhelming. I’m definitely on board to seek wisdom— giving and encouraging my children to do the same. Several of mine have accepted Christ in their hearts so I’m in a season of discipline, teaching, and growing with them. So excited!
Thanks for sharing this post. So happy to read your words. I’m definitely praying about a word / verse for this year too.
Hugs,
Kennisha
Seeing our kids growing in Christ is the great joy of a mother’s heart. Keep to it, friend. I am so glad our lives stay connected in this place.
wifeforthejourney:
Another insightful message for the blogosphere, but your’s is measured, thoughtful and biblical. So much of the western-world-view is (literally and figuratively) drowning in information. What is missing is the call to keep Christ in the center of our field-of-vision. Another reason to admire and appreciate the efforts you expended yesterday evening, and which Jadon did on Sunday morning.
Thanks, as always, for your faithful pursuit of Jesus. Jesus is, as Jadon said yesterday from the pulpit, “Not just all we need; Jesus is all we have!”
Draw our eyes back to You, O Lord.
~ Billy
“Keep wisdom in view”–AMEN! Wisdom is indeed a precious commodity our world desperately needs right now. Love your conclusion too, Elaine: “Wisdom will lead you to the place where you were always meant to live.” It’s in that place we find satisfaction, contentment, purpose, and a host of other good gifts from our Heavenly Father! May we live abundantly in wisdom–in 2022 and beyond–as God grants us life.