Some years ago, I met Tabitha. She is accomplished and seasoned both in her profession and years, and found herself dealing with a troubling situation. In her late forties, she divorced an ailing husband to be with a much younger man. Her grown children and girlfriends believed it to be an incredibly selfish thing to do. She married her first husband right out of college. They raised a family together, settled into their careers, and acquired some degree of wealth and status as a couple. No one who knew them would ever have suspected that Tabitha would not be the devoted wife and stick with her husband through his illness, but she made the choice to leave him. It was a very difficult time in her family’s lives, but this was not nearly as troublesome as what she faced some years later.
Tabitha had a close-knit group of girlfriends that were equally as family-oriented as she was once thought to be. It’s not hard to imagine that they viewed her actions as self-sabotaging. By most folk’s standards, she was living a very stable life, but she was not fulfilled and hadn’t felt that way in a very long time. The new man she became involved with was 17 years her junior. He was exciting, impetuous, and very handsome. It felt to her that he had awaken things in her soul she had never experienced. She told me her love for him was so strong that she didn’t have a choice; being with him was something she felt she had to do–almost like breathing.
Proverbs 4:7(NKJV) tells us, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” This verse is a heavy hitter. We hear it quite often, and sometimes, when verses and passages are very popular, we become too comfortable with them. Instead of digesting the heft of what the Lord is presenting to us, we allow the truth to swirl around our ears without landing firmly in our hearts. Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of all there is, has given us an order of importance for wisdom. It’s way up there on the scale. It’s the principal thing according to God’s book.
God wants us to be wise about our choices, and this means that we should seek to obtain a certain level of understanding about the impact of them. You and I don’t know the future, but God does, and it is uber important that we remain in control of our emotions and seek His direction. 2Timothy 1:7 (NLT) declares, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” These are the spirits that come from God; power, love, and self-discipline. Being out-of-control in any respect is a sure sign that the wrong spirit, one that isn’t from God, is calling the shots.
Whenever we’re at a place in life where we’re allowing our emotions and feelings to control our actions and rule over us, when we make decisions without consulting our higher self in Christ; the end result can be devastating. Tabitha and her new husband were happy for a few years, but he hid an addiction from her for most of this time. She was beyond regretful about her choices, and looking back on her situation, she said it was like someone had blindfolded her mind.
The Book of Job in the Old Testament tells us the record of the extremely harsh tribulation that Job endured. The devil pounced on him terribly, and cursed him with many afflictions. Before any of it took place, Job 1:7(NLT) tells us that God asked satan a question, “Where have you come from?” the LORD asked Satan. Satan answered the LORD, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” This is what the devil does. Jesus Christ told us in John 10:10 that the devil is a thief whose only mission is to steal, kill, and destroy. The enemy patrols the earth, and do you know why he does this? He’s looking for an opportunity to steal from us, to rob us of joy and to cancel the awesome destiny that God has for us.
When we hear the Word, but don’t heed it, the enemy takes notice. These are exactly the opportunities he looks for. Our neglect of God’s Word is our neglect of wisdom, and this becomes the tool the devil uses to rob our lives. We can so clearly see why God has informed us that the wisdom of His Word is the principal thing. God wants to help us become spiritually sharp and aware. If we will learn more about Him, our trust in His Word will grow, then we can better guard our hearts and walk in wisdom. ■
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Walk in Wisdom” written for Overcomingdomesticviolenceorg.wordpress.com. Copyright ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!
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