it's harder now that wisdom is so interchangeable with knowledge. And I think I know less now. Sometimes that seems the case, doesn't it?
'The words of the wise are like goads: the collected like nails firmly fixed by God. my sons and daughters, beware of all lies. they come easy.' Ecclesiastes 12:11-12
One prompt----this goad----symbolizes the resourcesfulness of God as he reveals the power, the potential, that His wisdom possesses.
A goad, I've researched, is a traditional farming tool, usred to spure or guide livestock as they pull a plough.
God's wisdom:
~ spurs into action
~ guides the humble & weak.
~ plants seeds of truth to harvest heaven on earth.
'Oh, how wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out: at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 'how long, o simple one, will you love being simple?' Proverbs 1:20-22.
'I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one Shepherd. for this reason my Father loves me. I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. no one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have this authority.' John 10:16-17.
'If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give up everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares for others more than for self. Love doesn't want what id doesn't have. Love doesn't strut with a swelled pride. Love doesn't force itself. Love isn't selfish. Love doesn't keep the records of wrongs. Love doesn't reveal in the pain of others. Love takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, searching for the best, never desires the past, continues until the end. While inspired speeches will fade in motivation, praying in tongues will eventually fade, and understanding reaches a limit, love never dies. We know only a portion of the truth and what we say about God will never account to the reality of his completeness.'
When knowledge fails, love recovers. Love returns. Love bears witness to the wisdom of God. Love is the warmth inside---it is crazy and whimsical and still alive.
We don't need to know everything. Being wise isn't about understanding reality. It is about seeing love and living with it in heart soul & mind.
