Michael Kelley's Blog, page 8

How to Stay on Safe Ground in Prayer

Do you have trouble praying?

For most of us, the answer is yes. At least in part. Prayer is one of those things in which we are all growing – not one of us prays as fervently or as focused or as long as we would like. This is especially when we read some of the exhortations in the Bible about prayer:

Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).“Therefore I tell you, everything you pray and ask for—believe that you have received it and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up (James 5:15).

These are mighty Scriptures. Mighty commands. And mighty promises. When we read things like this, we might feel intimidated when we look at our own practice of prayer. But that’s not the only reason we might have trouble praying.

Sometimes we don’t know what to pray for. We want to pray according to God’s will but we have no idea what that is. The situation seems too confusing or complex and we can’t see our way forward. Or sometimes we have trouble praying because the pain is too real. The situation is too dire. We can’t find the words even though we know we should.

What do you do in moments like that? You don’t want to pray wrongly or unrighteously or even disrespectfully – so how do you stay on safe ground in prayer?

The answer is simple – you pray God’s Word back to Him. 

Here’s a little illustration to help. When our children were younger, we would often use the phrase, “We’ll see,” when our kids asked us for something. 

Can we go to the movies? We’ll see.What about a dog? Can we get one of those? We’ll see.Are we having dessert tonight? We’ll see.

The reason we responded like that is because our kids, like all kids, have annoyingly accurate memories. That’s problematic when you can’t control everything that happens in the course of a day. So we might have planned, for example, to go to the movies, but someone might have gotten sick. If we would have told our kids that we could go to the movies and then those plans had to change, their response would have been predictable:

“But you said…”

It’s in cases like that when I remember that God is better. He’s a better Father than I am. He’s more trustworthy. More generous. More caring. And He’s never had the moment where He had to go to one of His children and say, “I know I said this, but things have changed, and so now I’m going to say that.”

That’s why we can always be on safe ground when we pray God’s Word back to Him. It’s because He has never, and will never, retract one syllable of it. Not one statement; not one promise. God says what He means and means what He says. 

So the next time you have trouble praying because you are frustrated or tired or overwhelmed or any other reason, stay on safe ground. It’s also the best ground. Say to God what He has already said to you.

Deal with Fear on God’s Terms, Not Yours

The story of Gideon is a familiar one. The Lord called him to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites, but Gideon was afraid. Indeed, he was so afraid of the Midianites that when the angel came to deliver God’s Word to him he was hiding in a winepress.

So how did Gideon try and deal with his fear? We see his attempt  in Judges 6:37-40:

Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by me, as you said, I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said.” And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.

Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.

This passage is so common that terminology from it has crept into our own vernacular. We use an expression like, “Put out the fleece” for some kind of process of seeking to know God’s will by asking Him to provide a tangible, observable sign answering a question we have. That’s what Gideon did.

You might have done the same thing. Maybe there was a time when you felt like the Lord wanted you to do something scary, and so you went out to the woods, and said that if a red bird landed on the third fencepost from the right then you would know God wanted you to do whatever it was you thought He wanted you to do.

But what is really happening here? Is this a tried and true method to discern God’s will? The answer is no. At its core, what’s happening here is manipulation. To manipulate means to engineer or control situations or people or circumstances to meet your own ends. 

It’s interesting to note that through this whole section, Gideon does not use the divine personal, covenantal name of God, which is Yahweh. Instead, Gideon uses the generic designation Elohim. He is not distinguishing between Yahweh and any old other god. His requests for signs are, in fact, more indicative of divination in the Near East than worship of the God of Israel.

Ironically, no character in the book of Judges receives more divine assurance than Gideon and none displays more doubt. In His quest for certainty, He was calling the trustworthiness of God into question. He wanted to put God on his own terms. 

Now you might be thinking, I don’t do that. I know I can’t manipulate God. And perhaps you’re right – but perhaps also we try to manipulate God in much more subtle ways than laying out a fleece to either get wet or stay dry. We are at heart trying to manipulate God when we approach Him in a formulaic manner – that is, when we think If I do X, then God is bound to do Y. Here are a few examples:

If I provide the right kind of school for my kids then God will make sure they stay true to the faith.If I keep myself pure, then God will send me a spouse.If I work hard and do the right thing, God will make me rich.

There are a thousand of these little formulas we have wound up in our minds, but the core of all of them is that same core at the heart of Gideon’s attempt at manipulation – I want God on my own terms. And if we can have God on our own terms, according to our formula, then we can deal with the fear we have in our lives.

So if manipulation is man’s way of dealing with fear, what is God’s way? 

God’s way of dealing with fear is about His Word. It’s about remembering it, renewing our commitment to it, and reminding ourselves of it. If we look back at Judges 6, it’s clear that despite his demand for signs, Gideon should have had all the assurance he needed. Notice that there are a couple of words that appear not only once, but twice, and those words are these: “as you said.” They appear in verse 36 and verse 38 – they bookend Gideon’s quest for certainty. Gideon had the Word of the Lord. This is what he needed to remember. And so do we.

God has already given all we need to deal with the fear in our lives. It’s in what He has already told us. Turn to God’s Word in your fear, friends – don’t trust in your own ability to engineer your circumstances.

3 Ways to Grow Your Gratitude This Thanksgiving

Almost every year our family plants a garden. A for real, grow-stuff-that-you-eat garden. We gathered seeds for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and a few other things, we till the patch of soil, we repair the critter fence around the area that had fallen into disrepair, we dig holes, plant seeds, and then wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Almost every day since that initial planting I wake up in the morning and check the garden. And nothing. Nothing for weeks. Until one day there is the smallest, green chute coming out of the ground. And we watch that little green chute, being careful to water it but not too much, fighting off the weeds that try to grow around it, until it eventually bears fruit (or vegetables, in this case). From the time we begin to plant until the day we eat the first tomato is usually around 3 months. Not a terribly long time in the grand scheme of things, but pretty long when you’re watching a clump of dirt everyday.

Apparently, this is called cultivation – it’s the act of preparing, promoting, developing or promoting the growth of someone or something, and it takes time. And intentionality. And effort. That’s true of you’re cultivating tomato plants, but it’s also true if you want to cultivate a characteristic in your life. Like gratitude, for example.

When I think of gratitude, I don’t want my life to only have brief spurts of thanksgiving; I want to actually be grateful. For the plant of thanksgiving to have grown up all over my heart and soul so that I live and breathe gratitude. It emanates from the core of who I am. But if this, by the Spirit and grace of God, can actually be cultivated in our lives, what active steps can we take toward that end? Here are three such actions:

1. Remember what you deserve.

It strikes me that the moments when I am the most ungrateful are also the moments in which I feel the most entitled. That I deserve something better than the situation or circumstance in which I currently find myself. But that sense of entitlement is a lie. It’s not a lie in the sense that I’m not entitled to something; it’s a lie in the sense that I often forget what I am actually entitled to.

That is hell. Separation. Condemnation. Eternal punishment. This is what I truly deserve. If I want to cultivate gratitude in my life, then a healthy dose of remembering what I am actually entitled to should go a long way.

2. Remember what you have.

It also strikes me that other moments with I am ungrateful stem from the fact that I am caught in comparing myself to others. I look at the bank account, the physical stature, the intelligence, the wit, the influence of another and an so caught up in my own covetousness that I simply don’t have any room the be grateful. It’s in those moments that I can reflect back on what I truly have. And what do I have?

A beautiful wife? Wonderful children? Fulfilling vocation? Church that I love and loves me? Yes to all the above. But over and above that, I have every spiritual blessing in the heavens (Eph. 1:3). Every. Single. One. In Christ, God has held nothing back from me. By the virtue of His sacrifice on the cross, I am a co-heir with Jesus, and my inheritance in Him has already been secured. This is what I have. Right now.

3. Remember what was paid.

And here we come to the meat of it all. For me, and for you, if indeed you are a Christian, a great and terrible price has been paid. We were not brought out of darkness and into the light, rescued from our empty way of life by silver or gold; no – it was by something much more valuable. The precious blood of Jesus was shed on our behalf (1 Peter 1:18-21). Jesus was given for our sake; only a price this high could atone for our sin so great.

The cross of Jesus – the price that was paid – is like water to the parched ground of our ungrateful hearts. We pour it on as we fix our eyes on Him, and watch gratitude start to sprout up. Slowly, but steadily, we can cultivate hearts by God’s grace that are no longer entitled, no longer covetous, and burning white hot for the glory of the Lamb that was slain.

There is Almost Always a Need Behind the Need

The book of Judges reads like a broken record. Time and time again, the pattern is the same: The Israelites fall into idolatry. The Lord raises up some kind of oppressor to wake them from their spiritual lethargy. The people ask the Lord for help. The Lord then raises up a judge – Othniel, Shamgar, Gideon, Samson – to deliver them. And then the cycle starts all over again.

Within that pattern, there are two pretty consistent phrases that appear over and over, with some variation:

The Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord…Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord…

But let’s look a little deeper at this second phrase. Yes, the people are crying out to the Lord, but there is no indication that this is a cry of repentance; no acknowledgment of their own idolatry; there is only what they are experiencing in the temporary moment. 

It is a cry of pain. The people only felt their most acute need – the need of the moment. And the Lord responds, but it’s important to note that He responds not because of the wholehearted commitment of His people but only out of His own love and compassion. 

Now were the people in need? Were they in pain? They certainly were. They were in need of deliverance. They felt the pain of oppression. But there was a need behind the need that they did not acknowledge and potentially were not even aware of as they had forgotten the Lord. 

And this is very typically the way with us as well. There is almost always a need behind the need, one that we often are not aware of or at least not ready to acknowledge when we experience our own kind of trouble.

We find ourselves in pain, or desperation, or in need of something in the moment, and we call out to the Lord. But most of the time, there is a need behind the need. So let’s say, by way of example, that you are out of work, and so you pray that God would provide you a job. 

Now do you need a job? You certainly do – but there is probably also a need behind the need. You may also need a greater trust in God for His provision. Or a greater vision of what your career should be. Or how dependent on your work you have become as your source of identity. These are the deeper needs – the needs of the heart. These are the needs behind the needs.

And God knows about both of them. He knows you need a job. But He is also well aware of the need behind the need. And He is concerned with both of them. 

Does God want you to have a job so that you can earn money? Provide for your family? Give generously? He certainly does. And does God want you to come to a point in which you see your job in the proper place, trusting in Him and Him alone for your ultimate source of security and identity? Again, he certainly does. 

He will meet both of those needs in the right way and at the right time. But that method and timing ought to make us at least consider this: If it seems as though God is delaying in meeting what we perceive to be our need, is it possible He is delaying so that we might become aware of the need behind the need?

Surely the answer is yes. So if you find yourself praying about the same thing today as you did yesterday as you did last week or even last year, then perhaps it is worth asking the Lord something else today. Continue to pray for that job, but also ask the Lord to open your eyes to the need behind the need. And then see if He won’t meet you as the provider of both in His grace. 

Only God Can Tell You Who You Are

In Judges 6, Gideon is greeted by the angel like this: “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 

Now this is strange because Gideon is not, in fact, a mighty warrior. We know he’s not because of where he was. He is doing an outside activity in a closed environment. Gideon is threshing wheat, which was a common and necessary practice. But the usual practice of threshing wheat was to cut the stalks and then beat them with a rod. You would then discard the straw and then toss the mixture up into the air. The wind would catch the chaff and blow it away and the heavier grains would fall to the ground. This is what Gideon was doing. But he was so afraid of the Midianites and that even threshing wheat would attract attention, that he was doing it while hiding in a sheltered vat that was used for pressing grapes. 

This is the “mighty warrior” God has chosen. Clearly, then, there are two different perspectives on this topic of Gideon’s identity. There is the earthly, visual perspective that looking at the current situation you would have to say that Gideon’s identity is that of a coward. But apparently there is another perspective – the divine perspective – that says the identity of this judge is that of a mighty warrior. 

This topic – the topic of identity – is an increasingly relevant one. Nationalism. Privilege. Ancestry. Gender. Politicism. Are you a republican or democrat? Progressive or conservative? Pro or con? All these cultural discussions have an element of identity at their core. Now, like never before, we seem to be asking that question not just about others, but about ourselves. “Who am I?” we ask. “To what do I belong?”

But you see, there is actually another question – a much older question – that not only is part of this discussion of identity. This question actually lays the groundwork for identity. And that is the question of authority. 

Identity begins with authority. If we want to have the answer of identity, then we must first grapple with the question of authority. While the question of identity seeks to answer, “Who am I?” the question of authority seeks to answer who can even give the answer of identity. 

Here, then is the real question that lies at the heart of the identity question: Are we going to choose to be self-determining beings, or are we going to acknowledge the rule of God?

If we choose to be self-determining, then the question of identity becomes really fluid. Who do you want to be today? Do you want to be male or female? Do you want to be moral or immoral? Do you want to faithful or not faithful? 

But if we accept the rule and reign of God, then our primary question about identity changes. No longer are we asking, “Who do I think I am?” or “Who do I feel like I am?” or even “Who do I wish I am?” Instead, our primary question, rooted in the authority of God, becomes “Who does God say that I am?”

As we move through life, there will not only be those who want to tell us what our identity is; there will be threats to our identity. Those threats come whenever a set of circumstances threatens that which we tend to look to as our marks of identity. So let’s say that you have a job that you’re very proud of. And you’re very good at. And you serve at that job for decades. But eventually, that job is going to go away, and for many people this is a moment of crisis, because the thing by which they have identified themselves has been suddenly stripped away. They are left listless and lost.

Or let’s say that you are a parent and you are heavily invested in your children. So invested that even though you didn’t realize it, your children and their achievement in sports, academics, the arts, or whatever has become the primary source of your identity. You are so and so’s mom – that’s how people know you. But there will come a time when you find yourself to be an empty nester, and you have that same feeling of lostness. Who are you then?

We need something deeper – something more stable – something more firm by which to identify ourselves. And that is good news if you’re a Christian, because God, in His authority, has told you who you are. And it’s an identity that will never change regardless of what your career is, what your role in the community is, or what circumstances come your way. God has declared you to be His child. That is who you are because He said so.

Past Faithfulness Fills the Reservoir of the Soul

George Mueller, the great man of faith who cared for over 10,000 orphans in Bristol, England during his life, despite never soliciting any kind of gift for himself or his work, once said this:

“If God fails me at this time, it will be the first time.”

Don’t you love that?

Mueller was supremely confident in the faithfulness of God, often going right up to the very mealtime in which his orphans has nothing to eat, still confident God would put food on the table. How was he able to do this?

It’s a relevant question for me, and possibly for you, given the plague of anxiety that ravages us on a near daily basis. It seems that we invent things to worry about – the weather, the economy, the state of the union or of our families. We might fool ourselves into thinking that our worry is about our circumstances, and that it this thing or that thing was suddenly different than it is now then we would not find ourselves being so anxious.

But we know that’s not true. Don’t we?

We know that if we weren’t worried about this particular thing, then we would find something else to occupy our anxious energy. Our worry isn’t about our circumstances; it’s about our hearts. And deep in our hearts, we doubt whether or not God will actually be faithful to what He has said. Or beyond that, we doubt that we will actually be able to make it through His plan for our future if His plan doesn’t match up with what we have convinced ourselves is what is good and best for us.

The question is extremely relevant. How was Mueller, and how can we, have this kind of confidence on a daily basis?

Surely at least part of it has to do with our past experience.

If you would, consider with me for a second the examples of God’s faithfulness in your past. Most any of us can look back at any number of situations and, if we really thought about it, acknowledge the goodness and wisdom of God. Furthermore, we can even look back on prayers that we have prayed that seemed to go unanswered, and recognize even then that God’s seeming non-answer was actually yet another example of His faithful love, care, and provision.

Sometimes, in His faithfulness, He gives us what we desire. And sometimes, in His faithfulness, He gives us what we should desire. Either way, God is faithful.

When we look back, then, across the landscape of what was and what He did during those times, we see time and time again these big and small examples of His faithfulness. Everything from providing a job to helping you take the very next step still in faith is a testimony to His unchanging character and commitment to His glory and your good.

Looking back fills the reservoirs of our souls. These tangible examples and memories are like the rains that become pools that become lakes from which we can draw over and over again during the seasons of drought.

So are you feeling dry today? Are you wondering if this will be “the time” when God doesn’t come through? Then draw from your reservoir. And if your reservoir is dry, then remember all the times when He has been who He is before. Remember, and feel the rain.

Count On What You Know Rather Than Speculate on What God Might Be Doing

“What is God doing?” we cry out. We cry it out in pain, in difficulty, in frustration – seeking answers to our questions. It’s hard to see, isn’t it?

Our vision for the work of God is obscured by our pain, or our confusion, or the trouble of life. We believe God is at work, but for the life of us, we can’t figure out what He might be up to. How do we respond in such times?

1. We should be very careful to make assumptions about what God MIGHT be doing.

We have the tendency to look around us and make definite pronouncements of what the Lord is doing. We do so with the best of intentions. For example, we might walk through some difficult time. Maybe a prolonged illness or some financial difficulty. Then, at some point in the future, we are able to look and see the good that God brought out of that suffering. Perhaps He used that period to form in us a greater faith. Or perhaps He used it to bring a marriage back together. Or perhaps He used it to position us in another job or opportunity. We are able to look and see the real life example of Romans 8:28 – that God indeed does work all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

So we look and see this good God has wrought, and in an effort to give testimony about what He has done, we say something like, “At the time I didn’t understand why I was going through this, but now I see clearly what God was doing.” It’s a noble attempt, and it certainly has the right spirit behind it, but we should still be very careful in making pronouncements like that. 

Sure, we might be able to see some of the good God has brought from hardship. And sure, we might be able to see His redemptive hand at work in the midst of our trial. But isn’t it presumptuous – even arrogant – to ultimately say, in a definitive way, that we know the reason “why” God allowed what He did?

Who has known the mind of God? And who’s to say that God’s eternal reasons don’t stretch beyond our specific situation to others? Not one of us is able to do that. Be careful, then, in trying to explain what God MIGHT be doing, lest we put ourselves in the place of God Himself. That leads us to point number 2. 

2. While we should be very careful to make assumptions about what God MIGHT be doing, we should be very confident in what we KNOW God is doing.

There are some things, no matter what is happening in our lives, that we absolutely, positively, 100% KNOW God is doing. 

True enough, we know that God’s thoughts are not out thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. Indeed, as high as the heavens are above the earth are His thoughts and ways higher than our own (Isaiah 55:8-9). 

When our desire for knowledge and revelation ram against the unapproachable wisdom and knowledge of God, where do we turn? The surest answer in those moments is to turn to His Word, where mercifully, God has already spoken. He has revealed something of His good intent and loving providence, enough so that through His Word we can generally answer our question.

So what do you KNOW God is doing, no matter what is happening? Well, a lot of things actually:

God is making you more like Jesus: “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). God is working for your good: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).  He is bending all things for His glory: “I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols” (Is. 42:8).

The list could go on. And on. And on. Truth is, even in the midst of our uncertainty, there are many, many things that you KNOW God is doing. So when you find yourself crying out in frustration, confusion, and even pain, take it also as an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to speak to your soul and to trust in the God who, no matter what’s happening and no matter how difficult it is to accept, is making you more like Jesus, working for your good, and bending all things for His glory. 

Count on what you KNOW God is doing rather than speculate on what He MIGHT be doing.

4 Ways to Act Like a Christian This Election Day

Here we are, friends. This is no doubt a consequential day. A pivotal day. It’s a day that one way or another will make history. All the ads, all the phone calls, and some of the social media posts will soon be over. And yet, even today, there is an opportunity for us as Christians. Yes, of course, there is the opportunity to vote if you haven’t done so already. But as citizens of another kingdom, there is an opportunity today – right now even – to choose to act like Christians today, regardless of what numbers and results start coming back later today.

How might we do that? Innumerable ways, actually. But there are four specific ones that come to mind for me and possibly for you as well:

1. Rest.

There are man, many people who are going to be disappointed today and in the days to come. Disappointed, but also potentially angry, resentful, bitter, anxious, and afraid. And while you can’t necessarily control how you feel, you can speak to your soul in the midst of those feelings. As Christians, one of the words our souls desperately need to hear is this:

“Rest.”

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is compassionate.
The Lord guards the inexperienced;
I was helpless, and he saved me.
Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you (Ps. 116:5-7).

How can we rest when there is such turmoil in the world around us? When there are so many unanswered questions? When the future is so uncertain? It is because as Christians, our rest is not a physical rest but instead a rest of the soul that comes from the finished work of Christ. On this election day, when the rest of the world wrings its hands, you can act like a Christian by resting because your confidence is in something greater than a political victory or defeat.

2. Repent.

Martin Luther’s first of 95 thesis reads like this: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ said repent, He meant that the entire lives of believers should be of repentance.”

In other words, the Christian should have a greater awareness than anyone else of his or her sin. We should know that there is always, always, always something to repent of. Something to turn from, and turn to place our eyes on Jesus alone. And surely all of us don’t have to look hard to find a reason for repentance.

We might need to repent of our anger. Of our hatred. Of our posts. Of our preoccupation. Of our doubt and fear. Of the way we have treated those who differ in political persuasion. I don’t have to look far, and neither do you. This election day provides many opportunities for repentance, and as Christians, we should embrace the humility it will take to see them and act on them.

3. Remind.

CS Lewis once said that Christians need to be reminded more than instructed. We certainly see this pattern playing out in the writing of Paul who never ceased to remind people of the basic truths of the Christian faith. That’s because Paul knew that our behavior flows rightly from our beliefs – that our theology drives our actions. So what specifically might we need to be reminded of on this election day?

At a base level, we must remind ourselves where the true source of our hope, security, citizenship, and identity comes from, and it is not from an election:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits (1 Peter 2:9-12).

4. Reconcile.

The last several years have been years of broken relationships – sadly, a good portion of these have come from within the church. And the temptation remains even today. There will be a temptation today to cast all kinds of blame for all kinds of things. The sons and daughters of God might well devolve into a bad version of a contentious holiday gathering in which the subtext of this election lingers over every conversation. “If only you had voted this way or that, we would not be in this mess now…”

Election day is here, at long last, and when we wake up tomorrow, we will have to live. And we have an opportunity as the church to now, at this point, put aside pettiness and preference for the greater purpose of the extension of the gospel. And now matter who sits in power at the end of the day, there will be ample opportunity for that:

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:1-3).

Now is the time, as Christians, for reconciliation.

Today is election day. But today is also a day to act like a Christians. As Christians, then, let us rest, repent, remind, and reconcile for the glory of God in Christ.

Nobody Intends to Build on Sinking Sand

The foundation is a key part of any building. I’m no master builder, but I’ve done enough home projects to see the logic of the phrase, “measure twice, cut once.” It’s a phrase that reminds us that the most important part of the work is usually done before the actual execution of the work. The plans have to be laid out, the base steps have to be considered carefully; you have to have a good and sure beginning because if you don’t, the entire rest of the project, whether big or small, is going to be affected. Get the foundation wrong, and it doesn’t matter what paint color you slap on or what pictures you hang on the wall. Whatever you built will eventually crack and erode, falling to the ground.

This need for a sure foundation is what Jesus talked about in the parable of the wise and foolish builders:

 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!” (Matthew 7:24-27).

Clearly, one builder was wise and one was foolish, and the way we see that wisdom and foolishness played out in this story is through the foundation they chose. The wise man built on the rock while the foolish man built on the sand. I read this parable, and I see that it’s not about building houses; it’s about a way of life. It’s about the choices we make and how often the little choices add up to something bigger than we can see in the moment. That dynamic is why this parable is about another characteristic that dominates the wise man, and that the fool simply looks beyond.

That characteristic is intentionality, and here’s why:

Nobody intends to build on sinking sand.

Why would they? Nobody thinks to themselves, You know what would be a great place to build a home? On an area where it’s going to collapse. Yep! That’s a great idea!

It’s not stupidity that drives the fool in this story; it’s a lack of intentionality. Maybe he was motivated because of cost, seeing that an area of land could be more easily purchased. Perhaps it was speed in that he wanted to have a house so badly that he didn’t care where it was. Maybe it was simple carelessness that he didn’t bother to do the research into the right way to build. But regardless, each of these desires exposed the unintentional nature of his build. He wasn’t careful, and eventually his lack of intentionality in the beginning bore fruit.

This is something we should be aware of because we live in an execution driven culture. Do, do, do – make the choice; build the house; don’t worry about the consequences just get something down there so you can be going. But the wise man stops. He considers. He thinks and he plans. Then he does. But the foolish man? Well, he wanted to get onto the business of hanging the pictures.

Interestingly, this parable in the Book of Matthew comes right after one of the most frightening passages to me in the entire New Testament:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’”

The people Jesus talked about wanted to hang the pictures, but in their rush to do so, they neglected the foundation. They paid no attention to what must come first.

Think with me, Christian, about the foundation of your decision:

Why are you accepting this job?

Why are you buying this house?

Why are you saying yes to this opportunity?

Are you moving too quickly to hanging the pictures without considering the foundation?

Considering the foundation means pausing and asking yourself the difficult question of “why”. Sure, being intentional in the beginning isn’t nearly as glamorous as slapping on a coat of paint at the end, but it’s infinitely more valuable. After all, that paint’s not going to look very good on a house that’s crumbled to the ground.

Wisdom Isn’t About Right or Wrong; It’s About Left or Right

What is wisdom?

It’s a word most of us are familiar with, and yet might have trouble defining. It’s also a word we encounter more than a few places in Scripture, but probably most notably in the Book of Proverbs. That’s kind of what the whole book is about:

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight… (Prov. 1:1-2).

Throughout the proverbs, we see that wisdom is something to be grown in, sought after, nurtured, and treasured. We see that it’s not only useful, but extraordinarily valuable – so valuable, in fact, that Solomon himself when given the chance to ask God for any single thing, chose wisdom. And the Lord was pleased:

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be (1 Kings 3:10-12).

So, then, what is it?

I’ve always found J.I. Packer to be helpful in this respect, not only in understanding what wisdom is, but what wisdom is not:

According to Packer, wisdom is not “a deepened insight into the providential meaning and purpose of events going on around us, an ability to see why God has done what he has done in a particular case, and what he is going to do next.”

Rather, wisdom is like driving. 

“What matters in driving is the speed and appropriateness of your reactions to things and the soundness of your judgment as to what scope a situation gives you… you simply try to see and do the right thing in the actual situation that presents itself. The effect of divine wisdom is to enable you and me to do just that in the actual situations of everyday life.”

So there you go. Wisdom is about reality. It’s about real-life decision-making in real-life situations. But also this:

Wisdom tends to deal less in right and wrong decisions and more in left or right decisions. And those are two very different kinds of decisions. We face both every day; right and wrong decisions deal in terms of morality. And those decisions are not easy, but they are, most of the time, simple. 

Left and right decisions are different. These are the kinds of decisions in which there is no decision that is inherently more moral than the other. These are times when you just have to choose – to choose this home or that one. This town or that one. This job or that one. Neither choice is sinful, and that’s why these decisions are more complex. And these are the decisions in which you move from morality to wisdom. 

Here is where we need wisdom not from ourselves, but instead from above. These are the decisions in which we need to exercise all our faculties – our experiences, our reasoning, council from others – but most of all, faith. Because these are the times when, at the end of the day, we will just have to make a choice and move forward.

Thankfully, we can do that confidently. Not confident in our own ability to make the best choice, but confident in the guidance of the Lord and confident that He will be at work no matter which decision we make.