Daily Devotionals

'Every Day Light' with Selwyn Hughes

Devotional: August 31st

For Reading and Meditation:
     Ecclesiastes 7:19-24

Wisdom provides us with an inner strength. That is the point Solomon is making in this passage. One who operates with wisdom possesses more strength than ten city officials. And those who have come up against officialdom and bureaucracy will know that this is some strength! When we have wisdom, we have the inner strength to cope with whatever comes - tensions, stresses, and problems that are not easily resolved. Solomon goes on to point out, however, that the possession of wisdom does not mean we become popular. You will still get criticized, he tells us, but don't let that throw you. "You may hear your servant cursing you ... many times you yourself have cursed others" (vv. 21-22). "When people criticize me," a friend told me, "I am thankful they don't know how bad I really am, or they would have much worse to say." As Chuck Swindoll puts it: "Give God thanks that people are just hitting the visible, not the whole truth." Solomon's next statement about wisdom is: "'I [was] determined to be wise' - but this was beyond me" (v. 23). Solomon found in seeking wisdom that wisdom was not easy to find. Why is that? Because while we have an innate ability to gather knowledge, we cannot be wise without the help of God. Solomon did not make this next statement, but nevertheless, this is what he is saying: "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault" (James 1:5). You can find knowledge in the world, but wisdom - true wisdom, that is - comes only from God.

O God, I bow before You and acknowledge that the wisdom I need to handle life I just haven't got. I fail to see the things I ought to see and value the things I ought to value. Give me Your wisdom, dear Father - heavenly wisdom. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.