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.