...born of wisdom

A common topic of tweets, taunts, and challenges of late has been who is 'smarter', who is the 'wise guy', who knows what is really going on, how the world really works. Lots of talk about wisdom--is there any way to separate the talk from the truth?

Yesterday's blog post was on the concept of righteousness, and how (sometimes) misunderstood it is. In thinking about wisdom, I believe it is difficult to come to a meeting of the minds on what wisdom is, how it is noticed, and in what ways it manifests in the lives of those who are wise.

For some help, I turned initially to the wisdom literature of Hebrew scripture. The Proverbs speak a lot to the subject, and in a way that appeals to the cerebral aspects of my personality. "Self," I say, "what do you think about wisdom?" I could have found plenty to fuel my thoughts in the sometimes pithy, occasionally intellectual statements gathered in these sayings.

In the end, I found guidance on wisdom, how to know it when we experience it, from the little, practical epistle of James. It left me saying, "Well, obviously. Wisdom could not make its way in this world in any other way." See what you think:

     Who is wise and understanding among you?
     Show by your good life
     that your works are done 
     with gentleness born of wisdom.
               --James 3:13/NRSV

So. Are you counted among the wise in this world? If you are, you won't need to tell anyone. Your gentle life will speak with clarity about your wisdom and understanding. The way you live will leave no doubt. 

...in the tough middle

If you will only let God guide you, and hope in Him through all your ways,

whatever comes, He’ll stand beside you, to bear you through the evil days;

who trusts in God’s unchanging love builds on the Rock that cannot move.

---Georg Neumark, 1657

            “Gray skies are gonna clear up! Put on a happy face!

            Brush off the clouds and cheer up! Put on a happy face!”

Penned by lyricist Lee Adams for the mod musical Bye Bye Birdie, these upbeat lyrics spread a ‘feel-good gospel’—just smile, because life is gonna be all rainbows and flower gardens. Good things happen to good people! You attract what you resemble! …and, by implication, if life is not so good, you must be doing it wrong.

Well, friends, this hymn, 460 years old this year, calms me considerably. Because frankly, what I just described isn’t my life, not every day. Some days, my smile may be a little forced, or absent altogether. Some days, my happy face may be grimy with struggle, or streaked with tears. And on those days? On those days, the last thing I need is the added guilt of believing that my struggle is proof of my failure to live right, proof of my lack of faith.

This life, with our good God, is not lived above the fray, but in its midst—in the grimy, scary, tough middle. What promise, what comfort, then, that we don’t make our way through these days alone, but in the company of God beside us. What better place to pitch our tent than on the solid rock of the abiding love of God.

Life shifts and changes, but the love of God…it is the unchanging presence on which we stand.