You've seen quiet time type things here the last few days because of what happened Sunday. Sunday I had about ninety minutes of reading, thinking, meditating, praying and getting to red. Deal is, it's the first time in weeks and weeks that I've been beyond the fifteen minute mark. No, it's not about the time, but remember, you don't usually get red without the time. Before red, you start cool and blue, then heat up thru green. It's like the spectrum, left to right. And the little journey I took during that time reminded me how much I need that. We're not talking study -- we're talking listening and pondering. Here's what I would have missed -- the little journey with a definite point at the end (I'll keep it brief by spreading it out over three days)...
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I'm reading Psalm 111 (I read progressively thru the Psalms) and it reminds me of this constant sense of a need for wisdom and understanding. In the inner thought life. In family and marriage. Work and church. For decisions about jobs, kids, projects, emergencies, suprises. It's a constant tension always going on in some area.
And I read "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This is actually all over the Bible. And the next words are, "all those who practice it have a good understanding."
I think about some conclusions I've come to (over the years) about what it means to fear the Lord: To be afraid to do anything apart from him. To be afraid to go out on your own and trust yourself. Be afraid, and that's the beginning of wisdom.
And I think it's pretty basic -- there's only two kinds of wisdom: Man's. And God's.
OK, that's about 10-15 minutes. Blue. Stop here, and next time you start over at blue. Keep going and you can get to green.
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