A Call for Spiritual Wisdom

Now more than every have Christians been called to spiritual discernment. 

Photo: Lichtenfels (morgefile)

It's been about two weeks that I've written a blog post here, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been writing anything. I'm actually working on quite a few posts right now, for this site and for other sites. 

Here lately, I've been reading through the Book of Ecclesiastes for at least the fifth time. It's my favorite book of the Old Testament (my favorite New Testament book would have to be a toss-up between Ephesians and Hebrews - I might talk about that in a later post). The first time I read through Ecclesiastes was actually for a college course, Intro to the Old Testament. I took this course my freshman year of school, and to be honest with you, the first day I stepped in the class, I hated it's structure. Though I knew NC State was a public school and the teacher wasn't going to sway any particular way with his teaching with supporting or talking bad about Christianity, but for some reason I was just hoping for a little more. Eventually, I grew to enjoy the class quite well.

Since the course was called "Intro to the Old Testament," as students, we had to read through the whole Old Testament. I was just thankful to get through Genesis without breaking down. Imagine reading Genesis in one week, five school days. Talk about being panicked! Once we got through the Books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), it was pretty good. When we got to the Books of Poetry (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon), for some reason a switch went off in my head. These books, in particular Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, are so rich in wisdom and provide spiritual and practical advise to live by. 

Now, through this fifth or so time of reading through Ecclesiastes, I believe that with spiritual maturity and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I've been able to understand more of what God allowed Solomon to write. This time in particular, I've been praying that God will give me wisdom in understanding His Word. I don't want to be reading the Bible just as a task to do, but for clarity, correction, understanding and teaching. 

Verses that have stuck out to me in Ecclesiastes (this time) is in Chapter 7:

"Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and profitable to those who see the sun. For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it." - Ecclesiastes 7:11&12

I thank God for the fact that if we ask of God for wisdom, He gives to all men freely, "without reproach" (James 1:5). God gives us wisdom freely when we approach Him in for us to be firm in our faith. One who isn't stable in doctrine and belief in Christ is tossed to and fro from various ideas, being easily led away from the faith (James 1:6). Reading Ecclesiastes this time has been such a joy, because God, being so rich in His mercy toward us, through the aid of the Holy Spirit, provides understanding so we can "rightly divide the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). 

With the state of the world that we live in, it's ever so important that we study the Scriptures. You can't depend on anyone else to provide what you spiritually need - only God can meet those requirements and fulfill those desires. Let us all strengthen our walks with God by learning and studying His Word.

SDG