I’m a trail runner.
It’s nothing spectacular. I’m not setting any speed records. Someone might even say I’m more like a “swift hiker through the woods” than an actual runner. But that’s okay, I love it.
Making my way over rocks and roots surrounded by our Creator’s handiwork is my happy place. It is the closest experience I’ve found in this broken, sin-wrecked world to what I imagine it might have been like for Adam and Eve to explore the Garden prior to their fall.
Speaking of those – falls – I’ve taken a few. Some on the literal trails I’ve traveled; many more throughout my walk as a child of God (41 years and counting).
In the woods, my face plants usually happen when I’m fatigued and fail to focus on the terrain in front of me. No lie, I’ve gone down in the same place, tripping over the same stub of a root three different times, simply because I forgot it was there and wasn’t paying attention. I wish it weren’t so, but I’ve done the very same thing with temptations that trip me up as I “run the race set before me.”
On the trail, I’ve learned some painful lessons about vigilance, pacing, and picking my feet up. One might think of these as the way of wisdom in the woods. Carelessness in the woods, or any other off-road path, is costly. Running without regard for hazards is an accident waiting to happen. It’s foolish.
The same could be said of trekking absentmindedly along the rough and unpredictable path of life. Recklessness while running, so to speak, eventually leads to a tumble and causes tremendous harm to us and the people connected to us at home, at work, and in our community of faith. Those who heed the way of wisdom, however, are able to effectively navigate even the most challenging of terrain.
Solomon put it this way in his renown collection of wise sayings we know as the book of Proverbs. In this instance, wisdom is personified, sharing the truth about itself…
“Whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:35–36, ESV)
Pretty straight forward, huh? Wisdom is a game-changer. Finding it leads to life, abundant life! Neglecting wisdom, on the other hand, amounts to a death-like existence.
I should probably mention that “finding” wisdom isn’t merely reading it. It isn’t just knowing words and phrases. It isn’t even simply believing what it has to say. Wisdom must be applied to everyday decisions if its benefits are to be gained. It is, by definition, “skill in everyday living,” not skill in everyday knowing.
Yes, we must know before we can do. But to know and not do is essentially the same as not knowing.
So, I want to invite you on a quest for wisdom. This Sunday, I’m kicking off a nine-week series in the book of Proverbs titled The Way of Wisdom. Pretty creative, eh? Honestly, we’re prayerfully going to seek the wisdom of God in his word for several of the most important aspects of life, so that we can find life in those places, just as God intended.
Going into it, I wonder if you would be willing to pray a simple prayer with me. It’s one of those prayers I believe God is so serious about, he makes a promise to answer it. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5–6, ESV)
I can’t wait to discover with you what God gives us from his infinite well of wisdom in the weeks ahead. See you Sunday!