Wisdom that Overcomes Anxiety

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are WISE will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.              Daniel 12:2-3   NIV

A WISE man fears the Lord and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.        Proverbs 14:16   NIV

    Wisdom starts with honoring God as God.  Wise people are fully aware that God is God and they are not, that God is in control, not them.   A lack of wisdom is the major contributor to both anger and anxiety because these stem from foolishly thinking we can control the circumstances of life.  We stress out and blow up when things seem out of our control because we are not trusting the One who is in control.  Anger and anxiety inevitably lead to regretful decisions.

   

  Daniel is a testament to powerful, yet foolish world leaders who  tried to gain and maintain as much control as possible.  They gained much for a while, but in the end, they lost it all.  In contrast, the end of Daniel speaks of the wise who inherit everlasting life.  They may not have had much along the way, but in the end, they gain everything.

    The beginning of the path of wisdom is learning to acknowledge the sovereign power and gracious love of God each and EVERY DAY.  As Proverbs says, “In all your ways acknowledge him and  he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:6).  This instruction is parallel to the meaning of “hallowed” in the first line of the Lord’s Prayer.  Jesus teaches us to start every day by acknowledging that God is above and beyond everyone and everything else. This week, begin each day by slowly praying the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), especially paying attention to the first line, “Father in Heaven, HALLOWED be your name.”  The rest of the prayer is about living wisely, in harmony with the God of the universe.   

Surprised by Temptation

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.      Ephesians 6:12   NIV

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’    

Matthew 6:13  NIV

   We make four big mistakes when we face temptations and trials in life.

       1.  We are surprised by them.

       2.  We underestimate our enemy.

       3.  We fail to see that our temptation or trial is part of a bigger battle.

       4.  We turn to God last instead of first.

   

   Scripture makes it very clear that the struggle we have in this life is not just about flesh and blood.  We are in the middle of a spiritual battle between the forces of God and the forces of evil. This is why Jesus taught us to pray that we would not be led into temptation and that our Heavenly Father would deliver us from the evil.

   This does not mean we need to look for the devil behind every bush.  It does mean, though, that we need to expect difficult times and be prepared to persevere in the fight.  If we expect life to be hard, then it is much easier to keep a clear head and trust God and do his will in the face of difficulty.

   This week, pray through the Lord’s prayer at the beginning of each day and make sure you are aware of the last sentence of the prayer as you pray it.  Ask your Heavenly Father to lead you away from temptation and to protect you from the schemes of your enemy who desperately wants to devour you.