With Humility comes Wisdom

Our church is finishing up an 8 week read through of the books of Judges through 2 Kings. We have just been reading about when Solomon asked God asked for Wisdom. It got me thinking….what should I be asking God for? What should I encourage our Coastal families to ask for? I decided that we would all do well to follow Solomon’s example and ask God for wisdom on a daily basis.

What does it mean to seek wisdom? Wisdom has two basic connotations. At first thought, we think wisdom means a vast amount of knowledge. Upon deeper thought though, the word wisdom implies using that vast amount of knowledge to make well thought out decisions. We, as parents and especially as homeschool parents, need to be seeking both aspects of this widely sought after quality. We know from scripture that God put a high priority on the role of parents and we see how often children suffered at the hands of unwise and ungodly parents. If we are to take our job as parents seriously, we should be begging God for wisdom daily.

To be a life-long learner requires humility. It requires a clear understanding of our imperfect nature and limited knowledge. It requires a clear understanding of our desperate need for a savior. It demands that we run from the trap of becoming prideful . Proverbs is full of warnings against pride and its detriment to obtaining wisdom.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom." (Proverbs 11:2)
A prideful arrogant parent will be the destruction of their family. This will result in a hardened unteachable spirit which resists godly counsel for course correction. It causes a parent to oppose seeking advice when they enter a new stage of parenting thinking they know it all already. A prideful arrogant person while not being able to see the sin in their own lives often becomes a fault finder in others. Jesus warns us about that danger with his comments about removing the plank in our own eye in Matthew 7. The children suffer from living with this kind of harsh spirit. A child of an arrogant parent grows up feeling insecure and unloved knowing they can never measure up to receive their parent’s approval. And worse yet, they aren’t taught to go to their Heavenly Father and miss the blessings of His protection and love.

My prayer for us this month is that we follow Solomon’s example and seek wisdom from the Lord and avoid this warning:
“In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” (Psalm 10:4)

In His service,
Susan Truman

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