Man’s Wisdom – God’s Wisdom

After anticipating a good day and moving on from some of the symptoms that I have been experiencing this week, today has been a rough day. Last night, after the reprieve of the previous night, my cough returned and some of my other issues symptoms have not improved. I’m glad that I was able to make it to my doctor’s appointment yesterday and have as active a day as I did. Perhaps I over did it a little.

I hope to be feeling better through the weekend because I have a significant test with my urologist scheduled for next Tuesday. This test will involved some IV antibiotic doses in preparation for the test. So, today has been a day of rest and running a specimen to the lab. I like my doctor, when I emailed her a description of my  some of my issues her first word back was, “YUCK!” When I saw her on Wednesday morning she said, “Ken you are a complicated patient.” After almost 60 years of good health where a cold or bronchitis was a major event every two or three years this is a new paradigm for me.

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” 1 Corinthians 3:18-19

It is interesting how people feel they can understand and explain God and issues of faith and if they can’t, they can’t be real. It has too do with the limits of the human mind, even in light of “mind boggling” discoveries in our world today. Some of this leads to the idea that the human mind, if fully utilized would be equal to that of God or make someone “god-like.”

What is interesting is that God’s wisdom is not always expressed in lofty ways people can not understand but simple ways people will not accept.  Paul said, “…since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21) Paul goes on and says later,  “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”  (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Corinth was a key city of Greece. Human wisdom was not only valued but almost worshiped. The enlightenment of the mind was the highest that man could achieve in their thinking. This lead many of them sitting around debating and listening to the latest ideas. This focus is shown in Paul’s visit to Athens and his discourse on Mars Hill.

Some believe that this experience prompted him to write to the Corinthians about the failure of human wisdom and superiority of God’s wisdom. The key to this as revealed in verse in 1 Corinthians 1-3 is that as God’s children we have the wisdom of God available to use to understand and accept the ways of God.

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” (1 Corinthians 2:12)

Paul simply says no one knows better what is in a person’s mind more than the spirit of the person. When we come to Christ His Spirit is given to us for us to know the things of God related to spiritual matters of faith. This result is…

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.                                      (1 Corinthians 2:9,10)

When it comes to spiritual matters, issues of faith and someone says, “that doesn’t make sense to me?” or “I can’t understand that.” You can say, “I know.” But you can let them know how it can make sense by receiving God’s Spirit through faith in Christ.