Ever been stuck without someone to talk to? Well, it isn’t a good feeling at all.
Due to a family emergency involving our pet undergoing surgery, and a previous commitment to our daughter, I was split up from my wife for an evening. To make it more unsettling, I was sleeping at the cottage that evening due to the geographical location of the event we were attending. I slept in a bed alone for the first time in over ten years I traditionally shared with my wife.
I had been dealing with quite a bit that day in honesty. The dog in surgery. The vet bills. Being father of a teenager. The future. The past. Finances. Health. I am sure this this has happened to you…
I was wishing my wife was there. Too many thoughts were going through my mind, yet I knew based on previous experiences (oddly, one from my days as a teenager) I had to wait. I had to wait for the Lord to take the wheel.
Wisdom is a strange thing – it is really working when we STOP to pray to God, and then wait to find and apply the answer to our problem(s).
I came up with following acronym for WISDOM:
W – hen
I
S – top
D – epending
O – n
M – yself
That time of anxiety, that – praise God – lasted only an hour or two, became a moment of relief and joy when wisdom answered. It was, however, mixed with some shame, as I had lost self control. You can believe I was most thankful for the Spirit’s calming guidance.
I cannot help but think of the psalmist words – “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped, I had nearly lost my foothold.” (Psalm 73:2). We must be cautious and trusting in the walk of life, and decisively conclude with the psalmist, “When I tried to understand all this it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God.” (Psalm 73:16-17).
In closing, I can describe one insight from this experience. If God has granted money, we have choice to:
- Give life or take life.
- Maintain life or neglect life.
- Preserve life or waste life.
Wisdom understands us. She gives kind words and easy solutions to those in hard situations. We should open our hearts and minds to her more often, and be most thankful she comes in our time of need.
~Mark Gibson