The school year is upon us, and past decisions have put us where we are, some of us done with schooling and starting a new job and others facing new classes and living arrangements. How can we be certain we’re making wise choices?
We may wish God would literally write on a wall as he did for Daniel. We may think that a voice in our head or a whisper over our shoulder or a message in a dream is God’s guidance, not recognizing that by doing so we open ourselves up to the possibility of being deceived. Rather than sending whispers or writing in the sky, God gave us something much, much better: his completed Word, the Bible. Its teachings are not subjective or influenced by our emotions or what we eat. Nothing can hack it! We can become wiser and understand his will, but we gain that wisdom from his Word alone.
The Apostle Peter refers to the literal voice of God when he writes, “For when [Jesus] received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain”(2 Peter 1:17-18). But then Peter, who literally heard the voice of God, writes, “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention . . . , knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”(2 Peter 1:19-21). The Bible you hold in your hand is the accurate voice of God.
Psalm 119:98-100 reads, “Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.” Even the Old Testament saints understood that they would be “wiser than [their] enemies” and “understand more than the aged” by choosing to study and meditate on his Word, filling their minds with it, and then obeying God’s instruction with every decision. That’s it. It’s not always easy, but it’s less complicated than we sometimes make it out to be. There’s no other way to gain God’s wisdom, and we can’t trust our own wisdom. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths”(Proverbs 3:5,6).
Study and meditate on the Word of God. Allow it to pervade your heart because some of your upcoming choices will have lasting consequences. Fill your mind and heart with the Word of God; make understanding and knowing God your top priority; obey today what you know God teaches and trust him to give wisdom for tomorrow’s decisions. Then you will, “understand more than the aged.”