WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

Prayer: Dear Lord, Thank You for Your very Word, given to me. May I cherish time with the scripture today. Amen.

Scripture: My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:1-6 1 NIV Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 24:14 14 NIV

While watching a fishing show on television, the host introduced a family that he met on the beach while shooting the program. He said he could not resist inviting them to dinner as the father had just returned from his fifth tour in Iraq and he wanted to hear his stories. I was touched as the program that usually focuses on the host catching fish and promoting fishing gear all over the world, turned over almost a third of its viewing time to share the soldier’s thoughts and stories. As you can imagine they were not the type of stories you hear on the news but rather great stories of success and progress over there. He talked about the new freedoms and programs, the appreciation shown by the Iraq’ people on a daily basis and the new opportunities they have been given because of the sacrifices made by those willing to serve and fight over in Iraq.

Of course, my favorite story concerned the children of Iraq. He told stories of walking the streets each day and how the children would come begging, not for food, not for candy, and not for toys, but for pens, pencils and paper to do their school work. These children were finally being given a real education, a chance to learn life skills, to read and write, and they were so excited and eager to learn that they would rather be given a pencil than a meal. A piece of paper was more valuable than a toy. These children rejoiced over the beginning of the school day and cried out for more at the closing of the day. Can you imagine your class moaning and booing the dismissal school bell at the end of the day? Imagine their faces dropping and them dragging their feet as you had to push them out the door with promises of more lessons tomorrow. Imagine their only motivation to go home being the opportunity to go practice their lessons. Just sit and ponder that scene for a minute or two – wow! Imagine the love and respect they must have for their teacher. They fathom the value of what they are being taught and the necessity to learn. They recognize the blessing of being allowed the freedom to learn and use what they learn openly without having to hide or risking a beating or even losing their lives.

As you soak in what would be like a dream come true for many of you, imagine what it would be like to be one of those students. Imagine that you yearn to learn more than eating or sleeping. Imagine your heart pounding in your chest each morning as you eagerly open your book and listen to new lessons. Imagine the rush of joy as you grasp an understanding of something new and realize how this can be used to improve your day-to-day life. Think about how you would value and cherish a book that you knew would change your life, provide you with answers that you did not even have the questions for yet, and on top of it all, that there was someone who was willing to die so that you would be given the opportunity to read and learn what was in that book…just imagine… because you are that student and that book is your Bible. We should long to learn from it, seek every moment we can to read it, beg others to teach us from it, desire to spend time learning from it more than eating or sleeping and most of all, realize the many people who have suffered and died for us to have the Bible available to us in our own language and to have the freedom of religion.

My prayer for you is that you would be a student who calls out for insight; may you search and find God’s wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

Copyright Kathy Branzell. Email [email protected]