Practical Parenting from Proverbs Chapter Two

Wisdom; where does it come from? There are plenty of people who would say it comes from a good college education, my parents included. And I believed it for a long time too. In fact, my good college education was preceded by years of private school education where I did learn lots of things. In elementary school I was a student of French and German from first grade on; I learned to love to read, appreciate art and music and became in many respects a "well rounded individual" which helped me gain admittance to a good college.

But really what I mastered was self sufficiency and a belief that I could come up with the answers and solutions to problems. I quip that I was brought up on the theology of self sufficiency. When confronted with a task or problem I would simply examine it from every angle, persist, persevere and strive on until I had conquered or solved said problem. And it wasn't until I was faced with our younger son's substance abuse now several years back that I came to the end of myself and realized it didn't work and I didn't have the answers. I suppose that is when I got my first glimmer of real wisdom, which Proverbs 2:6 says comes from God.

But how do you share that with someone who isn't necessarily receptive to that message? To someone who doesn't believe in God? Someone like I had been for many years?

Well, you need to recognize a need for it first of all. Proverbs 2:3 says, "and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for unerstanding" and Proverbs 2:6, "For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Now why didn't anyone ever instruct me to ask God? It wasn't until I came to the end of myself that I started to search beyond myself. The struggles were painful, but also purposeful and did lead to the beginning of knowledge, and not the type you learn in college.

It is a great gift when wisdom enters your heart. Discretion and understanding follow. It's just too bad that in our human condition we fall away and once again depend on self rather than God. But here's the good news, You can once again ASK God for wisdom and that is a request He loves to honor. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault,and it will be given to him." Now that is great news! There is a teacher ready 24:7 to respond to our request when we humble ourselves and remember to ask. There is a condition attached, however, that is worth noting, which follows in verse six, "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

Start reading at verse 12 and you will discover all the things wisdom will save you from, things I wasn't saved from with all the good, private education head knowledge in the world. I made plenty of mistakes; I didn't walk a straight path, I did walk in dark ways, I did hang out with people who followed crooked paths and who were devious. Like I said, I made plenty of mistakes.

But God can and will still use our mistakes for His purposes. I just finished reading Stephen Arterburn's The God of Second Chances. Well, couple that with Phillip Yancey's What's so Amazing About Grace, and well, you feel hopeful and not alone.

Arterburn writes, "Why are we so quick to believe what is false? (Like self sufficiency?) Because we want to. We want to own,to possess, to hoard...How can we remain faithful to truth if we are so predisposed to follow after soothing lies? First, we must believe the truth. We naturally tend to stray away from believing both the bad and the good news of the gospel. We forget about God's grace and become impressed with ourselves. We lose touch with the deadliness of sin. We forget to be honest."

Lean not on your own understanding...oh, that's a preview of Chapter 3...but it is the truth. My understanding usually isn't even a close second to reality.