The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honour you if you embrace her.
Proverbs 4:7-8
Get Wisdom (3)
Suffering. We can’t avoid it and it creeps around us. Deep in our hearts it hurts, yet God uses suffering to shape and help us to “get wisdom”. They are tough lessons, but sometimes there is no other way. At this time, it is understandable that you may fear what the future may bring but take confidence in our God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has walked the way to Calvary and suffered to rescue us. He went through the indescribable pain of the cross, bearing our shame and we can be sure He is able to sympathise with us in our suffering. This morning you can trust him.
In the middle of our suffering we can be sure that the Lord is with us and is using it for our good, as Proverbs 14:26-27 tells us:
In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
Here are some quotations which I have found very helpful over the past weeks and months. I pray that they will also help you to gain wisdom in your suffering:
“God will take you where you haven’t intended to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own.“ Paul Tripp
“Affliction is the Christian’s Theologian…I never knew the meaning of God’s Word until I came into affliction…..My temptations have been my masters in divinity……No man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures…” Martin Luther
“I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow;
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When Sorrow walked with me.”
Robert Browning Hamilton
“When we cannot trace God’s hand we can trust God’s heart.” Spurgeon
A prayer for today
“Lord, I want to be wiser. I long to gain understanding in the middle of all the confusing noise of this world. Lord help me to get wisdom – whatever it costs – even through suffering. Lord Jesus I know you have walked this path. I know you will walk with me. Help me, my family, my neighbours and my community to learn wisdom in these desperate days. Father, by your Holy Spirit, will you lead us to the fount of all wisdom – our Lord.”
David Norbury