Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5
Man, if ever there is a verse in Scripture I can relate to, it’s verse 19 (which is actually a quote from Isaiah 29): “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
When I was in high school, I had my whole life mapped out. I had a sense of peace and security because I knew exactly where I was going and what it took to get there. My peace was built on a shaky foundation of what I had, could, and would achieve. And I was none the wiser of how shaky it was, until I could no longer achieve any of it.
My plans—built on the kind of confident arrogance success breeds—suddenly were derailed by a cracked playground surface and weak ankle. I tried my best (using my supposed intelligence) to still make my plans happen. But an uneasiness was settling in:“ Maybe I didn’t really have it all figured out, so now what?!”
God’s grace brought people around me that showed me I didn’t have to have it all figured out, I just had to trust Him to lead me where He wanted to. And while my friends looked at my choices as foolishness, “You turned down your scholarship at USC to go where?” (a small Christian college) “To study what?!” (the Bible) “Are you nuts?!” (maybe a little).
But the peace I received in simply following God step by step reassured me that I could trust His wisdom. And ultimately I have experienced what Paul says in 2:5, “so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”
For Reflection:
- When is a time in your life that you have either experienced the peace that can come from trusting in God’s wisdom over the world’s wisdom, or a time when you trusted the world’s wisdom over God’s and suffered as a result?
- Is there an area of your life currently where you could experience more peace if you simply trusted in what God has to say about it? (finances, relationships, work, etc.)
* Scatter some sheep figures all around the room. Let them remind you of how people are lost without the Good Shepherd, Jesus.
by Pastor Jim Caler
