Goaded by Wisdom: Surrendering Stubbornness to the Good Shepherd
Ecclesiastes 12:11
“The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd.”
I was horseback riding with my wife and granddaughter when my horse decided it wanted to eat some nice green grass. I have been on a horse three or four times in my life and the girls are way better at riding than me. This horse was stubborn and I had to pull on the reigns hard to get him to move along in the line.
I had to goad him into doing my will rather than his own. Likewise Wisdom, the person of Holy Spirit, comes to us and nudges us with truth that pricks our consciouses and causes us to change course and follow the right path. We drop our agenda and release our stubbornness and loosen our grip on controlling our circumstances and our families and trust our Teacher.
Sometimes those pricks are strong so they can chasten us into harkening the Good Teachers voice. Then once we accept the truth and wholeheartedly agree with it the Good Shepherd nails that wisdom to us so that we own that lesson and become permanently adhered to His truth more and more.
Conversely the spirit of religion wants to distract us with the green grass of the way that seems right to a man and reason and experience and emotion so that we walk by sight and not by faith.
That cruel spirit points out our failures to try and throw us off the trail that our Father has purposefully laid out for us to flourish on.
The Wisdom that crushes that old lying spirit is agreement with the Holy Word of God. Agreement with the truth that we are new creations, righteous, holy, blameless, and above reproach silences the voice of the crooked shepherd and allows the Good Shepherd to drive truth deep into us where He secures it permanently to our identity.
Taking thoughts captive and slaying them with truth is difficult at first but eventually we can gain solid ground to stand on and the old tricks that the crooked teacher used to throw at us bounce right off.
The cut-off withering branch doesn’t have very many new tricks so he waits till we are vulnerable, not agreeing with truth, and then he begins his assault. But as we force ourselves to embrace truth, his green grass doesn’t look so tasty anymore and the pleasures of this world loose their grip on us. Wisdom is now, through new birth, part of who we are.
The world around us desperately needs us to flourish in confident, new creation identity and wisdom so that they have a shot at redemption.
Let’s push our agreement harder and loosen our grip on controlling our own destinies, our own plans our own desires and even our own kids so that wisdom can have its powerful impact in and around our lives. Hallelujah!
Father, I am so grateful for Your Grace and Mercy. You have given me new life and have been instructing me through Your Holy Spirit to heed Your Word. Holy Spirit, please help me to be more sensitive to Your instruction, Your wisdom, Your teachings and Your revelations.
I want to hear Your voice more clearly. I will be bold and act and speak what it is I hear You speaking. I will deliver Words “in time” to the people that You highlight around me.
I know that You have made me a new creation, holy, righteous, and blameless. I will cement these truths as my core worldview. I am extremely thankful. I love You. In Jesus name. Amen.