Did you know that wisdom WILL always produce fruit in those who believe in Her? Luke 7-8

Luke 7:35 (NASBStr)

Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

In the above passage we have the Pharisees (the religious leaders of the day) being challenged by Jesus.   He is telling them that even though they criticized John the Baptist one way and Jesus, Himself, the other way, in the end, both would be vindicated.   Vindication will allows come with God's master plan.   We might hear people make arguments against God, His Son and His plan, but in the end, the plan will prove to be right and they fruits of it eventually known.    There are many who argue the even the very existence of God.   Yet, Wisdom (the personification of Wisdom is God speaking) is vindicated by Her children ... God will make Himself known to even those who doubt He exists.   This is true of God and true of the lives we live.  Jesus is one person to say this and believe, but He was the Son of God.   However, John the Baptist is someone else.   People criticized him and only by faith could he believe he would be, one day, justified by the fruits of his labor.   He didn't see immediate fruit, but he was acting in the plan of God by faith in God.   God had promised him if he did "x" than "y" would happen.  This is true with all the prophets.  It is true with all those who serve God.   But, "x" is always obedience powered by faith in God's grace.   God is in charge of "y", but we are in charge of believing God's promises and allowing HIs grace to empower us to succeed.   Wisdom is vindicated by all her children.   

Does your pride bring God's judgment? Jeremiah 47-52

Jeremiah 48:42 (NASBStr)

“Moab will be destroyed from being a people

Because he has become arrogant toward the Lord.

In this section of Jeremiah we see the judgment of God being leveled against the nations who lifted up their hands and hearts toward God and His people.   God IS going to judge.   It has taken the entire book to get to for us to hear these dreadful and complete destructions on these surrounding nations.   This particular verse just happens to be taken against the judgment pronounced against Moab.   In each of the nations that are being judged we can find a similar verse.   Their judgment, as well as the others, is based upon the obvious: Their Pride.   When man raises his hand and head against God it brings forth judgement.   Note the following:

1 Peter 5:5 (NASBStr)

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

God is "opposed" to the proud.   Pride brought down Satan as a favored angel in heaven.  Pride brought down Eve as God promised her more if she ate the forbidden fruit.  Pride brought down David when he numbered the people to puff up his standing in the world.   Pride was the thing tempted Christ with in the desert to entice Him to take the kingdom without a death sacrifice.   Pride is man's number one sin.  We think more highly of ourselves and reject that we are totally depraved.  That rejection of our own sin makes it impossible for God to save us.   Salvation, sanctification, glorification are total acts of God.  Our pride hinders us from relying totally on Christ to redeem us and transform us.   Moab was brought down because they lifted their hearts in pride toward God.  The same thing will happen to any person or nation who thinks they are more than they are:  A people needing to be redeemed.   

Do you continue to seek wisdom? Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1:5 (NASBStr)

A wise man will hear and increase in learning,

And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

There is an archetype that men and women live out in their lives identified as the Sage.  The Sage is someone who knows things.  They are often asked, "What do you think?"  In fact, they loved being asked that question.  Most excellent Sages will be asked that question most of their lives.  Especially if they are a good Sage and actually have some great knowledge, wisdom and understanding.   However, there are men and women who do not have the character of a good Sage.   The reason for this is that they might be asked, "What do you think?" but they never ask anyone, "What do you think?"   The reason for this is they believe they have reached the end of the line; they are at the end of the food chain when it comes to accumulating knowledge.  This is what Solomon is addressing in the above proverb.   A true Sage, someone who is knowledgable and has wisdom by Fearing The Lord will be someone who is "increasing" in learning.   They continue to acquire knowledge and understanding.   When we think we have reached the end of the learning line and we think we are only left here to deliver that accumulated knowledge we become fools.   God's Word tells us that a wise person is someone who is increasing in knowledge.   The word for increasing in the above proverb means to "add to it."    As we grow in The Lord we are to "add to it."   We are to increase our fear of The Lord.   The older we get the more we are to seek deeper understanding and acquire wise counsel.  If we find ourselves seeking less and delivering more we become that poor Sage that simply thinks they know stuff and in reality are no longer significant in the seeking of Wisdom.   A wise man is "increasing."  

Is your cart making trenches in the earth as you pull it through life? Psalm 63-65

Psalms 65:11 (NASBStr)

You have crowned the year with Your bounty,

And Your paths drip with fatness.

Psalms 65:11 (ESV)

You crown the year with your bounty;

your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

We often hear those in the business world, especially the self-employeed, state the following, "It was a good year."  Or, regretfully, they might have to say, "This has been a bad year."    If we are believers, however, we ought to be saying the above Hebrew poem.   The writer of this Psalm is giving praise to God for His goodness and His abundant provision.    Like a crown on a king that signifies his majesty and authority, the writer states that God has crowned the year.   The emphasis here is not the crown, but the one who gives the crown ... in this case God.   God uses the bounty of the earth as a reward to the servant singing this Psalm.   He has the authority to give bounty and does so to those who walk in His way.  If you have ever had a good year of profitability or productivity or reward or honor or victory, it is from God's hand that was supplied.   The second line is especially intriguing.   Note the ESV:  "your wagon tracks overflow with abundance."    The writer is telling us that the wagon is so full it is make deep tranches and tracks and, in those tracks, falls the overflow of the wagon.   That is a completely full wagon!!   Imagine that God blesses you so that your wagon is so full it is getting stuck in the dirt and you can't pull it and then imagine the overflow of the wagon is pouring out into those furrows.   That is a great picture of how God can bless and wants to bless us.   It is important to know that God wants to do that for us.  Not so we can boast about our tax return.   He does not bless us so we can boast about OUR skills or OUR earnings.  We love to brag about what we earn.  We don't do it verbally, as that would be arrogant and turn people off.  Instead we brag about what earn by what we buy.  We show off our earnings through out toys.   In this Psalm the writer brags about God's blessing.  He wants God to have the praise.   God crowns the year with bounty and makes the wagon so full it digs dip trenches in the earth that are filled with the overflow of what He gives us.  That is what blessing looks like when we follow God in faith.  "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life."  

What does true wisdom look like? Do? 1 Kings 1-4

1 Kings 3:28 (NASBStr)

When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Solomon was made king over Israel when he was around 12-14 years of age (there is no exact age given, but Jewish historians put it at about this age).  He was confronted by God shortly after his annointing and given the opportunity to ask anything he wanted to ask of God.   He asked for Wisdom.  God, of course, was elated with this request and gave him wisdom in abundance.    In the above verse we see the result of his first recorded act of using that wisdom.   Two women came to him and made similar claims to be the mother of the same new born infant.   One was lying and had actually killed their own child, rolling over it at night.   God gave wisdom to Solomon in such a manner that he was able to discern that the real mother of the child would not want any harm done to the child, while the mother was had actually been the cause of her own child's death would be so bitter she would not be concerned with the death of the child.  That is what wisdom does ... it gives you insight others might miss.  He was able to see the pain in both mother's eyes, but for different reasons.   He took a sword to cut the baby in half and that brought strong emotions from each.   From that point on it was easy to find the real mother.   As a result of this first act of wisdom, Solomon was able to demonstrate beyond his years the wisdom God gave him.   Wisdom, when asked of God to enable the life, is no respecter of peoples, age, or gender.   God gives wisdom and when we use it in faith to glorify Him the above verse takes place.   True wisdom will get noticed.  Jesus is the supreme example of this as He talks about the accusations of the Pharisees about His ministry.  Note the following: 

Luke 7:35 (NASBStr)

Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.

Wisdom gives birth.   Wisdom will always produce positive fruit.  It is never sterile.    James says that wisdom from above (true wisdom that comes from God) looks like this:

James 3:17

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

You will know that the wisdom you have from Christ is truly from Christ if it produces pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable decisions that are full of mercy and the fruits of the Spirit and doesn't have hypocrisy.   True wisdom is extraordinary and  has very fruitful results.   

Do you know what is at the center of God's Glory? Exodus 33-36

Exodus 33:17-19 (NASBStr)

The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “ I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

Moses and God had a special relationship.   In verse eleven of this same chapter states that they talked face-to-face.   Later in this section we read that after Moses talked with God his face would shine so brightly he had to cover it so others could still be around him.   In the verses above, Moses imposes even more on this relationship by asking God to "show me Your glory!"    Moses, apparently, didn't even know what he was asking.    God will answer him later that he can't see the complete glory of God, but only His backside.   He tells Moses that to see the complete glory of God would kill Moses.   The key in this passage, however, is how God answers the original request.  Notice that God's answer is not, "Sure, I can do that!" or, "Yes, stand still and I will show you!"   God's answer talks about His goodness and His sovereign choice to have mercy on whom He will and compassion on whom He will.   Remember, Moses asked to see God's glory.   Moses didn't ask for an explanation of how God choose Abraham, or the entire Israelite nation.  Moses didn't ask Him to explain the significance of sovereign will and the Decrees of God.   Moses didn't tell God he had enrolled in the local seminar and they were debating in their Theology class the truth and validity of Divine Election.   Moses asked to see God's Glory.   In our mind that would mean that Moses wanted to see the very essence of God, or the most important aspect of God.   God's answer?  His sovereign power and will to elect!!   Note how Paul uses this in Romans 9 to explain Gods right to choose!!! God is answering Moses' request to show him His glory.  God is saying My Glory is that I am free to save whomever I want. This is why it is so dangerous to deny Gods election.  Of all the things God could have said here, He choose to say, "I'm sovereign in my choices.  I can choose whom I will and whom I don't will."   People love to argue God's sovereign will as opposed to man's free choice.   Denominations have been formed over their answers.   Wars have been fought over this answer.   Thousands of books have been written and sermon's preached.  People have been offended by it and humbled by it, all in the same time frame.   God decides to answer Moses' question about His glory by displaying and bragging about His sovereign right and will to choose whom He will.   Argue divine election all you want, but remember that God's glory is at the center of it.  

Are we rejoicing in our weakness? 2 Corinthians 11-13

2 Corinthians 12:10 (NASBStr)

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

In the last three chapters of 2 Corinthians the Apostle is writing a very tense portion to the members and leaders of the Corinthian church.   It is apparent that someone there was questioning Paul's authority, sincerity and apostleship.    Even though they readily even accepted false teachers in a pleasant manner, they were resistant to him and his words, despite the fact that he was the one that brought the gospel to them, didn't take any support from them and spoke the truth consistently in front of them.   To demonstrate his authority he has given them several arguments - one of which is the many times he has been persecuted or in pain for the gospel.  Because of the obstinate treatment of his authority and concern he was (according to his reasoning) forced to boast about his own Apostleship and credibility.   However, after giving much evidence of his Apostleship, Paul now stops his boasting and, in fact, confesses that God gave him a "thorn in the flesh" so that he would be forced to trust God through all of this ministry.  Paul knew the human spirit.  He knew that most men live to be worshipped.  In fact they worship themselves more than anyone else.   He also knew that God was gracious and gave him this thorn (bad sight, bad health, surrounded by people who doubted his authority?) to keep him humble and trusting in God.   His conclusion, seen in the above verse, was to maintain that God gave him these distresses and persecutions and difficulties to keep him weak and dependent upon Christ.  It is Christ that we are to have at the center and to worship.   God allowed these things (Paul concludes) to make sure the Apostle's every breath cried out for God's strength and he could take credit for nothing.   God kept Paul in a state a weakness.   God wants us to call upon Him for strength, not our knowledge, position or experiences.  Even though Paul used all three of those to claim some authority to speak to the Corinthian believers the way he was, in reality all of this was to keep Paul trusting in his Savior for strength.  It is in those times that we come to really know Christ.  When we are in our weakest times that is in our best of times.   God is perfecting us IN WEAKNESS.   The world thinks the way to get better is to get stronger, smarter, faster, or more beautiful.  God says the way to get perfected is to get weaker and more dependent upon Christ.