Decisions. Choices. We make hundreds of them every day. How often do we stop and consider God’s Word and seek His wisdom before we make a decision? I usually start my day with good intentions, but you know what they say about that road. Somehow, once I get up from my quiet time and face my day head-on, here’s usually what happens: I get in my head instead of the mind of Christ.
The psalmist may have had that same struggle, but he seems to have figured out the remedy. Look at what he says about needing God’s Word “all day long.”
Psalm 119:97-104–Mem
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path (NIV).
Psalm 119 is an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet, with eight verses for every letter. The preceding verses each begin with the letter mem. The ancient pictograph for mem looks like a wave of water and comes from the word mayim, which means water, stream, or fountain. Traditionally this letter was associated with the “fountain of wisdom” found in the Torah, the Hebrew name for God’s Word.
The word’s of a man’s mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook (Proverbs 18:4).
A vast difference lies between man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. I know that in me there is no good thing. I am desperately in need of God’s Word to guide me throughout my day.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength (1 Corinthians 1:25).
(Grin.) You gotta love it. Trust me, He is neither foolish nor weak, so that’s placing our so-called wisdom way down there on the hierarchy of things. He’s not bragging (although He could). He’s just stating the plain facts. God–wise. Me–not so much.
So if I know I’m not firing on all cylinders by myself, why do I attempt to rush off into my day, my plans and choices before me, and God back there on the couch with my Bible and journal?
And how do I get God’s Word to become that fountain of wisdom that we read about in Proverbs? I think the answer is in the passage from Psalm 119. The psalmist didn’t just read God’s Word in the morning during his quiet time. He meditated on God’s Word throughout the day. He kept the Word always before him and allowed God’s truth to guide him in all his decisions, like a fountain continually pouring out wisdom.
We need more of God’s Word and God’s wisdom continually being poured out into our lives. And He promises all that we need.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does (James 1:6-8).
Do you need more of the wisdom of God throughout your day? Ask Him. We might feel unstable, but He is completely stable. His wisdom will guide us into what is right and true. Don’t doubt, but believe God to give you what you need. Find Scriptures that speak to your situation and write or print them out and read them often during the day. Memorize a new verse each week. Memorization can be challenging, but God will help us with it. We can review verses while sitting in traffic or waiting in lines.
His Word is the key to wisdom and direction for the decisions we face every day. Do you want to spin your wheels all day, making decisions that don’t really acknowledge Him? Or do you want the Spirit of God to lead you in every little decision you face? Like the Psalmist, His Word can be “ever with you.” That’s the fountain of wisdom.
Spread wide your arms and receive His life-giving flow.