"We deify independence and willfulness and call them by the wrong name. What God looks on as obstinate weakness, we call strength."
How often do we get it 180 degrees backwards? "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God," I Cor. 3:19. "And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment," Isaiah 64:6. "For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness," Matt. 23:27.
Wisdom. Strength. Beauty. Righteousness. We are inclined to get it wrong on each count. Therefore, vigilance is required in our daily lives. When I have been going with the flow for a period of time -- a week, a few hours, a year -- without apparent obstacles or grievous errors, I need to stop, look and listen for God. The flow is powered by conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is not God's wisdom. With amazing subtlety the world has infiltrated my mind and heart and eased me into false beliefs about my worth, the way forward, success.
God values humility. "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven," Matt. 18:4. Oswald emphasizes that this is not a one-time event. I can, I must, come to God again and again, admit my weakness, my failures, my insecurities, my fear, and my dependence on him.
Barbara
Barb,
ReplyDeleteWhen you talk of wisdom, I think of Soloman. He was known as a man of great wisdom. He also penned Ecclesiastes, and the words "Everything is meaningless" Ecc. 1:2. I think we often confuse ourselves when we over analyze the meaning of life. Our church has recently sent several people over to Nigeria on short-term missions. Without exception each who has returned has commented on how "happy" the people of Jos, Nigeria seem. It seems totally illogical to me that Solomon, who was wise, extremely wealthy and powerful would conclude near the end of his life that everything is meaningless, but the poorest amoung us seem so content with so very little. Truly the wisdom of God is not the wisdom of man.