Calm and prudent forethought

A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. (Proverbs 22:3)

Prudent - one who takes the time and makes the effort toward future outcomes. Frances of Assisi reminded us: "We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather, we must be simple, humble and pure." The future outcomes will be much different when we aren't making choices that merely please our fleshly desires. A humble heart, one that desires purity, will seek God's direction in daily choices - not just the big ones.

The Greek historian Thucydides said, "Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought." The 'issue' of our day is defined by the forethought we have put into it, isn't it? Plan well, with God's direction guiding us, and our day's 'issue' will be much more fruitful than it would if we just 'flew by the seat of our pants'. 

Much emphasis in placed on living wisely, but we also find examples in scripture of those who placed their confidence in things that had deceived or would soon deceive them. Their outcome (issue) was certainly not what they bargained for - many times it was far worse than they ever expected. As important as it is to seek God's direction for the course of our day, it is equally important to ask him to show us what we are placing our trust in that has no basis for our trust.

Prudent (wise) individuals want clear direction, but sometimes the 'direction' we receive is more or less to avoid a certain course of action rather than take a more specific course. We might say that God isn't being very clear with us, but in truth, he is keeping us from stumbling into things that will only deceive us into trusting them more than we should. That isn't him not being clear - that is him being fatherly! He is keeping us from the undesirable outcome while allowing us to choose another course that will lead us into the outcome he would much rather see for our lives. Just sayin!