When I was preparing to enter a graduate nursing program, I took the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). When I finished, I knew that I had not done well. Weeks later, I received my test scores in the mail and my feelings were confirmed.
I called my husband immediately to let him know that I had failed miserably. After I finished describing my despair, he quietly said, “Add the language and math scores together and that is your total exam score.” WOW! I wasn’t as ignorant as I thought I was, and my composite score was high enough to meet the school’s requirement. I went on to graduate school and discovered that I had much to learn.
Thankfully, God has put some very knowledgeable people in my path over the years. In addition to being knowledgeable, these people have demonstrated an ability to apply their knowledge in very practical ways; they are good decision makers, problem solvers, and planners. They have helped me do the same. They are wise.
A.W. Tozer explains that true wisdom is “the skill to achieve the most perfect ends by the most perfect means.” It is “the ability to see the end from the beginning, to see everything in proper relation and in full focus. It is to judge in view of final and ultimate ends and to work towards those ends with flawless precision.” Even the wisest people I know do not fit that definition most of the time.
Fortunately for us, God is infinitely wise. And his wisdom is quite different from worldly wisdom. It is holy, full of love, and it is pure. God’s very creation is a testimony of his wisdom. Proverbs 3:19 states, “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place” (NIV).
God’s wisdom is also revealed in his plan for redeeming his creation, and that includes us. Tozer says that “God has planned the highest good for the highest number for the longest time.” God always has an eternal focus, and he desires for all of us to share in his eternalness and enjoy him forever. We only have to accept his free gift of salvation that comes when we trust that Jesus sacrificed his life to pay the penalty for our sin.
God has planned for us to be his children forever. But we must decide whether or not we will trust in his wisdom and in his right way, or in our own way. According to Tozer, when people insist on their own plans and ambitions, they jeopardize everything they have because they do not have wisdom to know how to run their lives. God’s wisdom must be the foundation for our thinking, reasoning, and believing.
Tozer offers this prayer for all who desire to give their lives to God and trust in His eternal wisdom:
Oh, God the Father, forgive me for doubting. You are infinitely wise, and I need infinite wisdom in my ignorance. Take over my life and be my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification. From here on, I acknowledge that you are eternally wise. Be my anchor and my Guiding Star.
Praying this prayer might just change your life!
–by Jane Hall, NCF National Director All quotes from: A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God, Volume 2 This is the seventeenth post in a series by NCF Director Jane Hall on God’s attributes. She is inspired by the writings of A.W. Tozer in The Attributes of God, Volume 2
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