True Wisdom Stoops
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” is what the Bible tells us in many places (Prov 1:7; 9:10; 15:33). This is a wisdom that stoops. As Wordsworth said, “Wisdom is often nearer when we stoop than when we soar.” Stooping wisdom humbly respects the Lord enough to want to obey and please Him. Such obedience is not done out of craven fear. Fear does not make us stronger. Rather, it is faith in God – in His character and the wisdom of His ways – that leads us to respect Him enough to follow Him. He becomes the leader and captain of our salvation, of our whole life (Heb 2:10).
Life is full of so many choices. Do we live here or there, befriend this person or that, take one job or the other, choose career A or career B, marry this individual or the other? It is not easy. There is only so much time. As Teddy Roosevelt put it, “Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise with time.” We need to know the relative value of things so we can overlook what is not important. Since God is of greatest value, when we know relative value and act accordingly it means the Lord is of first importance in every facet of how we live. This humble ‘stooping’ to do His will reflects wisdom birthed from fear of the Lord
Since the Lord wants to guide each one of us into the particular destiny He has for us, we are wise to overlook those things that do not seem to fit in with our destiny. This can be complicated because we know in part and make many mistakes about all things. We need to learn how to discern God’s best for us in our daily living because what is good is an enemy to what is best. Only the Lord can guide us on what to overlook, what to prioritize, and how to get to where He wants us to be. Again, this is the ‘stooping’ that says “Not my will, but Your will be done.” Thus, wisdom really comes from being His and seeking Him diligently in all the key ways He speaks to us.
We are to be good stewards of the children God may give us.