The Path of Wisdom.

Photo by, Thomas Nugent

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I often listen to, “The Bible Study Podcast,” by Chris Christensen. I enjoy having someone read the Bible to me and he gives very interesting commentaries.

His program has been on for a few years, so I go back and listen to those older ones too. The one I am listening to now is the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs’ main theme is getting wisdom from God. God calls out wisdom to the world. He shouts to the world what is right and what is wrong. Many times, he says that if you choose the wrong path, you will pay for it in your life. Your own foolishness will bring disaster upon yourself.

It is so easy to see that happening in the world and in our families. Perhaps someone we are close to makes a terrible decision; everyone around them can see what they are doing is bound to end in heartache. Yet they won’t listen to advice; they are determined to do what their emotions tell them to do.

But the wonderful thing about God is that he gives us the freedom to do that. We can choose the wrong path, and sometimes we will learn from our mistakes that God was right all along. We can look back at our bad decisions and realize we need God’s help. And he is so quick to receive and forgive us.

Mr. Christensen said, “It is wise to learn from our own mistakes; but it is even better to learn from the mistakes of others.”

I like what he said. I remember when I was a teenager in the 1960s and drugs were flooding California. I was curious about these drugs. I smoked pot and liked it a lot. I liked it far better than even beer. It didn’t make you sick, angry or stupid – it was just fun.

Then LSD and Speed came to our school. Lots of people I knew were doing these drugs, but I was leery. My parents used to buy Time and Newsweek and I read the articles on what Speed did to people and how some had died. I had a dear friend from school who got hooked on Speed and his life was ruined. When Art Linkletter’s daughter jumped from the window of a high building when she was on LSD, it horrified me. I learned from these people’s mistakes.

My high school did a wonderful thing; they had us all watch a movie about a man who was hooked on heroin. His life was so awful that I was never tempted to try heroin either. I learned from his life.

It is good to pray for wisdom. In my life, I have let my emotions rule me far too much. I can see how much I needed wisdom then and need it now. Maybe if we look carefully at ourselves and realize we are making a decision based on our emotions, then that could be a warning signal for us.

It is kind of scary when we want to do something to say to God, “I’m giving this to you. If you don’t want me to do it, then let me know. I know you only do what is best for my life.” It is hard to give control over our lives to someone else, even if that someone is God. But I know from experience that his path leads to great peace and happiness.

What is Our Achilles Heel?

I’ve was reading about King Jehoshaphat of Judah, and found he had a pattern in making bad decisions. Even so, he was a wonderful champion for God.

“The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the ways of David and sought not to the idol Baal; but he sought the Lord God of his father, Asa. He walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel and its kings.”  2 Chronicles 17:3-5

Not only did Jehoshaphat follow God, but he sent teachers of God’s laws to all the towns of his realm. God blessed him with riches and honor.

But Jehoshaphat had a failing in his character. Instead of staying apart from the evil kings of Israel, he made treaties with them. He allowed his eldest son to marry the daughter of Jezebel.

One day, Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat to come and visit. He then asked him to go to war against the king of Aram. Aram had promised to give the city Ramoth-gilead back to Israel, but he wouldn’t do it.

Jehoshaphat said, “I am as you are and my people as your people; and we will be with you in the war.”  Ahab’s false prophets had told the king he would win the war. But Jehoshaphat asked for a prophet of God, so they sent for Micaiah. He told them they would lose the war and Ahab would die. Ahab threw him in prison and they went to battle anyway.

Thousands of their people died fighting and the battle turned out exactly as the prophet of God had said. Jehoshaphat barely escaped with his life. When he returned home, Jehu the prophet met him and said, “Do you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is upon you. However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart to seek God.”

Why did Jehoshaphat help Ahab? I think it was because he considered the people in Israel his family, which they were by blood. And I think he felt his country was too small to fight against Israel and other countries so decided to make them allies. Israel was composed of ten tribes, whereas Jehoshaphat ruled over only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. But this showed a lack of faith, for the Bible shows God doesn’t need a huge army to win a war. He doesn’t need us at all. He can do it all himself, if we believe.

After Ahab’s death, his son Jehoram ruled Israel. The king of Moab rebelled at paying taxes so Jehoram went out to fight them. He asked Jehoshaphat to go with him. You would think Jehoshaphat would have learned from what happened before, but he didn’t. He took his army with Jehoram. This battle was won by the hand of God.

After Jehoram died, his son Ahaziah ruled. “King Jeoshaphat of Judah joined with him Though they did not go to war together, they went into business building ships to go to Tarshish. Then Eliezer the prophet went to Jehoshaphat and said, “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.” And the ships were wrecked on the way to Tarshish.

Jehoshaphat chose his eldest son Jehoram, the grandson of Jezebel, to be the next king. But he had been taught by his mother to worship idols. He immediately murdered his brothers so no one else could be king and he taught the people to worship Baal and other idols which included burning children alive as a sacrifice.

So, Jehoshaphat was a strong believer in God. He did follow him except in this one area of uniting with those who did not worship God. But the consequences of his decisions were, monetary loss, death for his people and then the death of his sons. He couldn’t seem to see the evil in the kings of Israel nor in his eldest son.

I believe his bad choices are in the Bible to teach us what can happen when we ally ourselves with unbelievers, either through marriage, war or business dealings. I think God made it clear how he felt about what Jehoshaphat was doing. This doesn’t mean he wasn’t saved. I believe he was, but it does show the terrible results of not trusting God enough and making decisions without consulting Him.

So, what is my Achilles heel? I would say I keep looking to people too much for love and attention. I have done that all my life and it has caused numerous problems. When I was a teen, I was desperate for someone, anyone, to love me. This led me into all kinds of trouble as you can imagine.

This carried over into adulthood where I made many choices out of God’s will because I wanted someone to love me. I am learning, slowly but surely, to find all the love I need in him. And what I like about this is his is a kind of love that never wavers and never ends; he is always there the moment I need him. People cannot give me the all-encompassing love I want, but he can and he does.

I’ll leave you to figure out what your Achilles Heel may be.