Diagnose, provide, and complete it, please

We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. (I Corinthians 2:6-7 MSG)

Wisdom comes in all forms. When I want to make the most of my investments, I don't consult the grocer, I go to my financial adviser because he has studied the various investment strategies and knows how to make the best of them. When I want to understand why my car is making a certain noise, I don't consult the plumber, I go directly to my mechanic who will be able to tell me what causes the noise and how it can be repaired. Why is it we seek wisdom about how to make real life change from self-help classes or books, rather than going directly to God's Word and into his presence?

Bringing out the best in us isn't something others can do for us - only God can do that. He knows how we were created, complete with all our quirks and habits, and he knows every one of our missteps along the way that might leave us a little 'tarnished' around the edges. We take our lives to him for his input because we know he will be the one to give us exactly what we need in order to see life change become permanent and complete. It is his 'exactness' that we sometimes fear, isn't it? We don't want that close of a look into our messed up lives!

All the fashionable wisdom of this day and age won't accomplish what one hour in his presence will - so why do we follow so hard after all those 'lesser' solutions? We are guilty of pursuing the 'fix' that doesn't stay 'fixed'! It is not the latest message, but the oldest that brings all we need for life change. The message is found in his Word - to ignore his Word is to cut ourselves off from the greatest tool that can bring order our of disorder, health out of illness, and hope out of despair. As Paul put it, we don't find this kind of wisdom just 'lying around on the surface' - sometimes we have to 'dig in' if we want to find what we really need.

There are a lot of 'high-priced experts' who tout they have the best answers for our problems. We can pay top dollar and still walk away unchanged, dealing with the same issues over and over again. Once we bring those issues into the throne room of God, allowing him full access to take care of them once and for all, we find the 'solution' we most needed. It isn't 'superficial' - it is deep and lasting change that occurs because God's Word NEVER returns to us void. It accomplishes what it needs to do - we won't walk away unchanged from our time in his Word. You can trust him to 'diagnose' the issue, 'provide' the solution, and 'complete' the repair! Just sayin!