I hope that many of you were blessed by Donna’s message this past Sunday. She dropped a lot of “gems” that I believe are in season for Lifespring. One of the gems she dropped was this line:
“Fear likes to cloak itself with Wisdom”
When I heard that line something in my spirit clicked. As I sat with that thought in my head, I couldn’t help but reflect on my most recent decisions. The question I asked myself was:
Was it Fear or Wisdom? Or was it Fear cloaked in Wisdom?
*I need to be clear and say that I’m not telling you to reject Wisdom but to discern Wisdom. There is a Worldly Wisdom that seems to have more value that Godly Wisdom but they are guided by different principles.
In order to discern your wisdom you need to check with God, check with people you love and trust, and after you’ve made your decision check the fruit.
Let me give you an example:
When I chose my courses for this year I took 3 per semester. After choosing my courses I realized that the summer courses were only 3 months long compared to the average 4 months per winter/fall semester. For those who haven’t been in school for a while or don’t know what this means, it basically means that the courses are more condensed based on duration and the pacing is faster than the fall/winter semesters.
I’m not going to act like I’m a straight A student and tell you that I wasn’t phased because I definitely was. I even talked to people who were also taking summer school and they told me they only take 1-2 courses in the summer because of how intense it gets. Now you can imagine how anxious and stressed I was feeling after those conversations. I’d be lying to you if I told you I didn’t contemplate dropping a course and honestly there would be nothing wrong with that.
According to the “Wisdom” I’ve received from peers and assessing my workload/capacity from earlier semesters, it seemed like the wise thing to do would be to drop a course and make it up some other time.
Before I made any decision I had to bring it to the Lord. I was telling God how dumb I felt not realizing that the summer semesters were shorter and that my plans were ruined because of my silly mistakes. I was telling God I couldn’t do it and that it would be better if I just dropped a course and did what everyone else was doing. It was safer. It was smarter. It was wisdom as far as I could tell.
Listening Prayer…Man you got to love Listening Prayer. When I brought all my worries and anxieties to God, I felt like He was smiling down on me. Such a weird image to have in my head at that time but I felt like He was telling me I know. God began to minister to me by telling me that He knew I would change my mind if I knew about the summer months. He told me that I was right in thinking that I can’t do it alone but it’s also why He’s going to be right by my side every step of the way. He reminded me that I would never Grow if I wasn’t challenged and what a better way for me to grow and show the world how Great He is than bringing me through tough times. His grace will be and is sufficient for me. He also reminded me that I don’t need to take on other people’s limitations but I can choose to walk in faith.
How many times have we made decisions that call for faith but we choose fear instead?
We might not call it fear as we rightly know that we shouldn’t live in fear so might call it “Wisdom.” Perhaps it’s because it’s what most people would do, or maybe because it is something we can control or maybe there is less risk on our part or, maybe because the results are more predictable if we chose this way.
You see, the wisdom in my particular situation wasn’t wisdom at all. It was fear cloaked in wisdom. The situation called for Faith and after hearing from God, I was able to respond as such but If I was wise in my own eyes (Proverb 3:7) and followed the wisdom of others that was fear cloaked with wisdom than I wouldn’t be able to tell you that God is good and that He is not a human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19).
I’m nearing the end of my summer semester and God’s faithfulness and grace has been sufficient through it all. His Word remain true in every season. All the Glory is His!
Father, I pray that you would give us eyes to see your light and ears to hear your truth in every decision we surrender to you. Help us to grow in the spirit of discernment as we grow in maturity. Let us respond with Faith when the world responds in Fear. Give us true wisdom as your word says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom so let us posture our hearts and mind with reverence to you God. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen!