"And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which (Stephen) spake."
"Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however...These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke."
(Acts 6: 8-10 NIV)
"And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Then there arose certain of the synagogue...disputing with Stephen.
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake."
(Acts 6: 8-10 King James version)
Captain Sensible writes: It seems that some Spirit-filled Christians seem to think that being filled with the Spirit means you have been emptied out of wisdom.
Of course, Proverbs is full of entreaties to seek wisdom, and Paul even gives practical advice to Timothy regarding his stomach complaint. But some Christians seem to almost -- gloat? -- in ignoring wisdom, preferring instead to "trust God". As if there is some contradiction there!
Is this Biblical? Is this -- ahem -- wise?
I was struck by this fact this morning, as my daily reading included the passage above, where Stephen is described as speaking with both wisdom and the Spirit (I have included two versions here, as the NIV seems to be on its own in translating this section as wisdom "or" Spirit).
There is no contradiction here. Wisdom comes from the Lord, so what's the problem?
Sadly, this reminds me again of Carolyn McCulley's blog, especially in the days when she used to publish (carefully selected) comments. (I knew all those frustrating hours would come in handy one day!) All too often, either Carolyn (and she does this in her book of course too), or a commentator, would appear to throw wisdom to the wind and almost boast -- quite frankly -- about how they were trusting in God for a husband. I vividly recall one woman who commented that despite the fact she came into contact with virtually no Christians other than in her small church -- a church where there were no single Christian men -- she wasn't in the least bit concerned about this, as, although she desired to get married, as she knew nothing was impossible for God and so she was trusting in Him!
Is this really what God wants us to do? Trust in Him alone and not use the brains that He has given us? After all, He must have given us brains for a reason, right?
Again, I go back to a favourite analogy of mine, what if someone was looking for a job? What if a man was seeking to provide for his wife and kids, and maybe a large employer in his town closed down the business, leaving next to no jobs in that area. Would he be considered Godly for remaining in that place and "trusting in God" for a new job? For year after year, maybe decade after decade, during which time he would be (in effect) "trusting" in social security to put food in his hungry children's mouths? Or would he be commended for relocating to a larger town where there were jobs, and where he could find work and provide for his family?
Now, I am not necessarily saying that every single woman should relocate in order to find a husband. With all the wrong teaching in the church today, the problems go deeper than that, sadly.
But don't boast in the impossibility of your situation and refusal to even contemplate changing it! Like you are somehow "holier than thou" because you ignore wisdom!
This reminds me of the passage in Debbie Maken's "Getting Serious about Getting Married: Rethinking the gift of singleness", where she talks of the sin of presuming on God, and shows the parallels with that type of thinking and Satan tempting Jesus to throw himself off the highest point of the temple, "since God had given his angels charge over him." And what was Jesus' response to that: We must not put God to the test. Debbie goes on to say: "We are taught that the first thoughtful action directed toward finding a spouse shows we're bypassing God and refusing to trust in him. We're warned that taking matters into our own hands instead of sitting on them and waiting on God won't end well."
This all reminds me of a couple of people in church leadership that I know; one with toddler girls, and another with an early teens girl. The mother of the toddler girl has spoken publicly about "when" her daughter gets married and has kids -- despite knowing that the statistical projection is such, that when this daughter becomes of an age where she is likely to want to get married, there will be zero men in the UK church! And the father of the early teen girl has said to me personally that he is "not worried" about how his daughter is going to find a husband in about 10 years' time, when I asked him if he was concerned about any of this!
Is such an attitude really "trusting God"? Or is it actually presuming on God and putting Him to the test? Is such a refusal to use wisdom Godly, or merely foolish? Is there even a trace of arrogance or pride there -- as if such a thing as barren spinsterhood couldn't possibly happen to their beautiful daughter(s)?
God is the God of the impossible; there's not a shadow of doubt about that. But we mustn't presume that God will intervene, in a situation that actually doesn't require "impossibility" anyway.
We can prioritise outreach to men!
We can restore Biblical teaching on singleness to our churches!
Why presume on the God of impossibility, putting God to the test, when we stubbornly refuse to use the wisdom he has given us?
You decide.
(Acts 6: 8-10 NIV)
"And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Then there arose certain of the synagogue...disputing with Stephen.
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake."
(Acts 6: 8-10 King James version)
Captain Sensible writes: It seems that some Spirit-filled Christians seem to think that being filled with the Spirit means you have been emptied out of wisdom.
Of course, Proverbs is full of entreaties to seek wisdom, and Paul even gives practical advice to Timothy regarding his stomach complaint. But some Christians seem to almost -- gloat? -- in ignoring wisdom, preferring instead to "trust God". As if there is some contradiction there!
Is this Biblical? Is this -- ahem -- wise?
I was struck by this fact this morning, as my daily reading included the passage above, where Stephen is described as speaking with both wisdom and the Spirit (I have included two versions here, as the NIV seems to be on its own in translating this section as wisdom "or" Spirit).
There is no contradiction here. Wisdom comes from the Lord, so what's the problem?
Sadly, this reminds me again of Carolyn McCulley's blog, especially in the days when she used to publish (carefully selected) comments. (I knew all those frustrating hours would come in handy one day!) All too often, either Carolyn (and she does this in her book of course too), or a commentator, would appear to throw wisdom to the wind and almost boast -- quite frankly -- about how they were trusting in God for a husband. I vividly recall one woman who commented that despite the fact she came into contact with virtually no Christians other than in her small church -- a church where there were no single Christian men -- she wasn't in the least bit concerned about this, as, although she desired to get married, as she knew nothing was impossible for God and so she was trusting in Him!
Is this really what God wants us to do? Trust in Him alone and not use the brains that He has given us? After all, He must have given us brains for a reason, right?
Again, I go back to a favourite analogy of mine, what if someone was looking for a job? What if a man was seeking to provide for his wife and kids, and maybe a large employer in his town closed down the business, leaving next to no jobs in that area. Would he be considered Godly for remaining in that place and "trusting in God" for a new job? For year after year, maybe decade after decade, during which time he would be (in effect) "trusting" in social security to put food in his hungry children's mouths? Or would he be commended for relocating to a larger town where there were jobs, and where he could find work and provide for his family?
Now, I am not necessarily saying that every single woman should relocate in order to find a husband. With all the wrong teaching in the church today, the problems go deeper than that, sadly.
But don't boast in the impossibility of your situation and refusal to even contemplate changing it! Like you are somehow "holier than thou" because you ignore wisdom!
This reminds me of the passage in Debbie Maken's "Getting Serious about Getting Married: Rethinking the gift of singleness", where she talks of the sin of presuming on God, and shows the parallels with that type of thinking and Satan tempting Jesus to throw himself off the highest point of the temple, "since God had given his angels charge over him." And what was Jesus' response to that: We must not put God to the test. Debbie goes on to say: "We are taught that the first thoughtful action directed toward finding a spouse shows we're bypassing God and refusing to trust in him. We're warned that taking matters into our own hands instead of sitting on them and waiting on God won't end well."
This all reminds me of a couple of people in church leadership that I know; one with toddler girls, and another with an early teens girl. The mother of the toddler girl has spoken publicly about "when" her daughter gets married and has kids -- despite knowing that the statistical projection is such, that when this daughter becomes of an age where she is likely to want to get married, there will be zero men in the UK church! And the father of the early teen girl has said to me personally that he is "not worried" about how his daughter is going to find a husband in about 10 years' time, when I asked him if he was concerned about any of this!
Is such an attitude really "trusting God"? Or is it actually presuming on God and putting Him to the test? Is such a refusal to use wisdom Godly, or merely foolish? Is there even a trace of arrogance or pride there -- as if such a thing as barren spinsterhood couldn't possibly happen to their beautiful daughter(s)?
God is the God of the impossible; there's not a shadow of doubt about that. But we mustn't presume that God will intervene, in a situation that actually doesn't require "impossibility" anyway.
We can prioritise outreach to men!
We can restore Biblical teaching on singleness to our churches!
Why presume on the God of impossibility, putting God to the test, when we stubbornly refuse to use the wisdom he has given us?
You decide.
posted by Captain Sensible at 1:44 AM
2 Comments:
Dear Captain,
The Bible calls us to be diligent and wise its to be praised. Proverbs shows this over and over again its a good quality and character in us. Sometimes, its just called old age getting wiser all the time.
Yes, we are never to test God and presume upon his goodness to us. Do you really want to pray to God to honor your own laziness in searching for a mate?
Kim
This reminds me of an earlier post from January of this year, highlighting the passage in the Bible which shows that God actually scolded Moses for only praying and not actively leading the Israelites. An extract is reposted here:
Then the Lord said to Moses: "Why are you crying out to me?"
Captain Sensible writes: I am appreciative of some Bible devotional notes by Selwyn Hughes for the following observation:
"Did you know that once God rebuked Moses for praying? 'Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on."' (Exodus 14:15-16) Moses had already prayed -- now came the time for action."
But turning to this passage, we see more than that. In the previous verse, Moses was basically telling the Israelites to wait and trust in the Lord. "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Like in a "Wait on the Lord" and "Trust God to bring you your spouse" kind of way?
Of course, it is important to be persistent in prayer, we know that. But at the same time, once we know what to do, we need to play our part. How lazy is it to simply cry out to God and do nothing except pray? This is not Biblical. This is not showing great faith. Along with prayer must come action.
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