Spanish Blog: Wisdom and Childlike Faith

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Isn’t it amazing how easily children innocently believe the things they are told?  They ask questions constantly, seeking to learn what is true, and they believe what they are told—at least until years of interacting with sinners in a fallen world cause them to doubt and question even what they are told.  Like Adam and Eve’s sudden awareness of sin upon eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we all reach an age at which faith is less natural and life loses some of its luster.

 

 

I consider it an incredible privilege that the Lord began to teach me His truths and impress His goodness on me at an early age—an age at which I simply accepted these things as truth and did not question them.  I remember one night when I was around 7 or 8 years old, when I learned about the existence of a mystical power called wisdom, and of God’s incredibly graciousness in offering it to each one of us.

 

For our family devotion time this night, my dad read to us from First Kings three and four about when Solomon asked for wisdom and God made him the wisest man who ever lived or would live.  This intrigued me.  First of all, I really liked the sound of “ask of Me whatever you want,” and I had to wonder whether God would have really granted Solomon anything, or if it was only because he asked for wisdom.  But the unmatched wisdom with which the Bible said Solomon was granted peaked my interest as well.  As much as I tried, I couldn’t wrap my brain around the concept of a wisdom that could truly be greater than any wisdom of anyone who would ever live.  

 

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”  

And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.  And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.  And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.  Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” 

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.  And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. ~ 1Kings 3:5-12

 

Chapter three’s example of Solomon’s wise ruling in the case of the two women and the baby was sufficient proof in my mind, however, that Solomon did indeed possess great the greatest wisdom as God said He had granted to him.  And of course, I had always been taught that if the Bible said it, then it was true.  I had never had cause to doubt that.

 

When my father had finished explaining to my younger sister and I the occurrences of these chapters in 1 Kings, he went on to say that we too could ask God for wisdom, and that if we really did want it, He would give it to us (granted, it would not be as great a wisdom as Solomon possessed).  In fact, he said, God wanted us to ask Him for wisdom.  So when our devotional time was over, I found myself a quiet spot in the living room by the fireplace and with as much reverence as my eight years had taught me how to convey, and I asked God to give me wisdom.

 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ~ James 1:5-7

 

Do you remember a time as a child when you believed in things more readily?  What would you ask God for if He asked you want you desire?

Jogging for the Dream

My run with the Lord was sweet this morning.  It was torture to wake up at 6, but as usual I begged the Lord for assistance and He must have granted it because my flesh was so weak, and the bed felt SO GOOD.  I know that the comfort of my bed is nothing compared to the comfort of good reassuring conversation with my Lord, though.

 

 

As I ran, the Lord reminded me that to run a race, you have to pace yourself and commit to contentment with a slow pace, for if you sprint, you will run out of steam all to quickly and must stop—at least that’s my experience!  I rarely push myself to the point of plateauing with a steady enduring jog on these runs because I greatly prefer to go fast, and then slow to a more restful (yet brisk) walk.  The slow jog feels so wimpy, but it is the only run I can maintain for very long.  Even the jog, though, is physical torture for me.  It is so hard to push forward when you only have just barely enough strength and oxygen to continue running.  In that place, I know in my head that I have what I need to continue, but the desire to stop and walk more comfortably is overpowering.

 

 

 So the Lord impressed upon my heart, as I settled into this sort of run this morning, that the spiritual race is the same.  As much as we love to soar with wings as eagles, our race is usually not perceived to be such by us.  If we are to endure and continue the race with eyes fixed on our Lord, we must be content to jog.  Just as jogging feels like death, this slow perseverance with my King often feels like death.  Continuing to serve with broken people, in a broken place, during this unrelenting pandemic feels like death.  I know the Lord is working, and as He reminded me this morning, He turns around even our sin and failure for His kingdom purposes, but the choice to continually believe that takes such faith.  

 

 

Choosing faith always feels a little like death because it is choosing the reality no one sees.  It is choosing human foolishness.  It is completely contrary to our fleshly reasoning.

 

 

But God has asked us to keep running in that tension here.  To keep pursuing people who disappoint us over and over again.  To keep claiming victory in places of repeated failure.  To keep looking up when the drama is directly in front of us.  I truly identify with Peter walking out onto the water amid the wind and waves so often these days.  This existence makes no sense.  But God so faithfully fills us up, inspires us with the beauty of His good purposes, and encourages us by so many faithful friends who hold us up in prayer.  I know it is only because of the Lord’s mercy in calling many to labor with us in prayer that we continue to experience joy.

 

 

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

(2 Cor. 3:18-4:1)

 

 

Jogging is completely unglamourous.  Occasionally I feel self-conscious, wondering what I look like when I jog.  Attempting to follow the Lord and walk by faith is much the same.

 

 

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 

(2 Cor. 4:7-11)

 

 

But it’s so amazing to hear from so many expressing their partnership with us in covering us in prayer.  It blows us away to hear how God is unifying many from all corners of the globe for the advance of His kingdom in Cusco.  The offensive God is waging against the enemy for ownership here cannot be denied. 

 

 

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

(2 Cor 4:16-17)

 

 

Yesterday I listened to an audio recording of selections about faith and prayer from George Muller’s autobiography, and I was struck by the way that the Lord chiefly impressed on Him a burden for the growth of the Christian church, and the orphan care was secondary in His ambition.  I don’t think that I could say I feel exactly this same conviction… but I definitely see the Lord using us and our ministry here to challenge and grow the church in the US.  It’s so beautiful. 

 

 

 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 

(2 Cor. 4:13-15)

 

 

The sky was relatively clear in Cusco this morning—more so than usual, and as I ran toward the sunrise, eyes fixed on He who is transcendent to all I could see, the phrase, “I have a dream” came to mind.  I knew I would write on this later.  I do have a dream—one that did not originate with me, but one which my King set into motion ages ago and calls all of His children to embrace.

 

 

This dream is unseen, but it has infected my consciousness like a spiritual virus—a virulent strain that cannot be denied because I perceive that all parts of creation are sustained by the Word which is speaking that reality into being. 

 

 

I envision that one day we will look back and see the armies of angels who marched with us as we prayed for His kingdom.  We will stand amazed at the way principalities were thrown down by our cries for help.  We will laugh in delight at the infectious and exponential way that one prayer gave birth to millions.  We will wonder at the way our humble petitions acted as the droplets of water which grew into a tsunami when our God, like an earthquake on the ocean floor, deemed that the moment was right. 

 

 

Every failure we will one day label for the beautiful repentance and kingdom alignment it produced.  Every set back we will see as the context in which our Great Protagonist revealed His character and His pledge to flip the pot on its head, making everything sad come untrue.  Every loss will truly be considered gain.  One day our numeral system of dating will become meaningless as the memory of God’s unceasing great acts in the world, and in each of our lives, become the lens through which we view all that has ever happened.  Indeed, we are already surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who SEE that reality unfolding and would urge us only to keep running, for Christ has done the rest.

 

 

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

(2 Cor. 4:16-18)

 

- Laura