
James 1:5 -“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
I was reading this verse and I was led to the reference Scripture, Jeremiah 29:12. I did read more than the one reference Scripture and wanted to share my thoughts.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 – 11) “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12) Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14) I will be found by you, says the Lord and I will bring you back from your captivity.”
Although the reference is wisdom, I was drawn to the last verse with God stating that He would bring the Israelites back from their captivity. It struck me that although God references the physical captivity of the Israelites here, we today are held captive by many things; the past, the present, and the future. Hence, my title for this post. It makes me think about so many things that keep us captive and not truly worshiping and seeking God. We do not rest in the peace He references above. There are times when we are so consumed with what we want, we are unwilling to accept that God is all-knowing and He knows what is ahead for each and everyone of us. Sometimes what we want will bring evil upon us. His thoughts toward us are of peace, and not evil, to give us a future and a hope.
There is a tendency when we read the Scriptures to expect God to respond in what we want and according to our mindset instead of what He knows is His best for us. When we ask God for wisdom, do we ask according to His thoughts toward us? Do we ask for true wisdom or do we just want what we want? The foundation of truth is that the beginning of wisdom is the fear (reverence and awe) of God.
Something to chew on.
Be blessed,