Wisdom, Faith, Courage, Peace and God’s Will
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
ESV Hebrews 11:8
This past week during our Sunday morning Bible study hour we spent some time discussing difficult decisions. Particularly, we discussed what it must be like to be a minister (and/or a minister’s wife) when it seems God is calling you to a new location. All kinds of thoughts flowed in our discussion. Where will we live? What will the people be like? We like it fine where we are; does God really want us to go? What is God’s will? We ended up with a pretty impressive list.
Next, we discussed how we might pray for someone as they faced difficult decisions. As we thought through how we might pray, we tried to think of Biblical examples. While we used several examples, there’s probably nobody in the Bible that better personifies our conclusion than Abraham. Abraham displayed wisdom in his decisions, faith in his obedience, courage in times of difficulty, peace at all times and I can’t recall him ever desiring anything to the intentional opposition of God’s revealed will. We finally decided that we should pray as follows:
Wisdom: That God may grant wisdom in much the same way he granted Solomon wisdom as a young leader. Of course godly wisdom is the product of knowledge multiplied by prayerful meditation. And in this sense, true knowledge is found only in God’s word.
Faith: That God would provide faith like Abraham had. You’ll recall that Abraham displayed faith by obediently answering God’s call and leaving his homeland for lands yet unknown to him based solely on the promise God made to him. He also displayed immeasurable faith when he was faced with the prospect of sacrificing his only son.
Courage: That God would grant the strength and courage to “do all things through Christ.”
Peace: That God would grant the peace that “surpasses all understanding;” a peace that is found only in Christ.
God’s will: And finally, thinking of how Jesus taught his disciples to pray and how he himself prayed; that God’s “will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Indeed, this should be the mark of all Christians; that they should desire that God’s will be done in all things, in all situations, and in all places.
Now, many people wrestle with this last one (God’s will) intensely at times while others are much too nonchalant about the matter. What is God’s will and can I know it? Is God’s will for our lives very narrow and focused like an ink dot on the center of a page or is it broader? Is it possible that it’s more like a wide circle with definite boundaries but encompassing all within? Just some food for thought for future discussion...
But for now let’s follow Paul’s charge to the Corinthians: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And let’s not neglect a most powerful tool for decision making—prayer. God bless.
Ken Askew
ESV Hebrews 11:8
This past week during our Sunday morning Bible study hour we spent some time discussing difficult decisions. Particularly, we discussed what it must be like to be a minister (and/or a minister’s wife) when it seems God is calling you to a new location. All kinds of thoughts flowed in our discussion. Where will we live? What will the people be like? We like it fine where we are; does God really want us to go? What is God’s will? We ended up with a pretty impressive list.
Next, we discussed how we might pray for someone as they faced difficult decisions. As we thought through how we might pray, we tried to think of Biblical examples. While we used several examples, there’s probably nobody in the Bible that better personifies our conclusion than Abraham. Abraham displayed wisdom in his decisions, faith in his obedience, courage in times of difficulty, peace at all times and I can’t recall him ever desiring anything to the intentional opposition of God’s revealed will. We finally decided that we should pray as follows:
Wisdom: That God may grant wisdom in much the same way he granted Solomon wisdom as a young leader. Of course godly wisdom is the product of knowledge multiplied by prayerful meditation. And in this sense, true knowledge is found only in God’s word.
Faith: That God would provide faith like Abraham had. You’ll recall that Abraham displayed faith by obediently answering God’s call and leaving his homeland for lands yet unknown to him based solely on the promise God made to him. He also displayed immeasurable faith when he was faced with the prospect of sacrificing his only son.
Courage: That God would grant the strength and courage to “do all things through Christ.”
Peace: That God would grant the peace that “surpasses all understanding;” a peace that is found only in Christ.
God’s will: And finally, thinking of how Jesus taught his disciples to pray and how he himself prayed; that God’s “will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Indeed, this should be the mark of all Christians; that they should desire that God’s will be done in all things, in all situations, and in all places.
Now, many people wrestle with this last one (God’s will) intensely at times while others are much too nonchalant about the matter. What is God’s will and can I know it? Is God’s will for our lives very narrow and focused like an ink dot on the center of a page or is it broader? Is it possible that it’s more like a wide circle with definite boundaries but encompassing all within? Just some food for thought for future discussion...
But for now let’s follow Paul’s charge to the Corinthians: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And let’s not neglect a most powerful tool for decision making—prayer. God bless.
Ken Askew
posted by Justin Hall at
11/22/2008 10:18:00 PM
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