The Limitless Wisdom of God
The Place of Grace (Day 4) // Prayer365
“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” - Psalms 147:1-11 NIV
One day we were leaving the home of Chanell’s parents and as we approached the car, Elisha looked up to the sky and pointed, saying “Daddy, I can see the Big Dipper.” I paused and glanced up and quickly located the collection of stars that form the Big Dipper and said “Yes, sweetie, I see it.” I thought to myself, “When was the last time I looked at the stars?” At that moment I was reminded of the innocent perspective of a child. How they are able to see the things that we’ve grown to overlook as adults. It’s not that we cannot see, but our minds are clouded by the various concerns of life. We’re often trying to figure things out, such as our finances, the well-being of our children (both young and old), relationships, and our future. Our minds are constantly calculating, analyzing variables and estimating outcomes. We lay down at night with so many problems unsolved and matters unresolved, only to wake up the next day and pick them back up again.
This is the cycle that many of us have yielded to, dedicating our lives to putting out fires. And while it’s good to put out fires, God did not create us to be emotional firefighters, instead He created us to be spiritual fruit bearers. If we are spending a great deal of our lives putting out fires, it’s likely a sign that we're attempting to live beyond our limitations. That means we're trying to control what we clearly can’t instead of controlling the things we can. And if we were honest, the problems we’ve been trying to fix, we don’t possess the wisdom to fix them.
But when did life get so complicated? When did we become so distracted? Perhaps you’re like me and you’re asking yourself the same question I did, "When was the last time I looked at the stars?” The truth is if we were to look at the stars, we would find the answer to our problems. Psalm 147:4-5 says “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies also! Think of it! With such a great number of stars, the word tells us that God numbers them all and calls each of them by name! This is nothing short of amazing and a representation of the limitless wisdom of God! Yes, "his understanding has no limit!"
Studies show that the universe is still expanding at this moment. As Christians we believe that all of creation was spoken into existence by the words of God. This means that a word that God spoke at the beginning of time is still at work today. There are pictures that prove hows the universe is still expanding. I want you to understand that God’s word is limitless and so is His wisdom. If we would become aware our limitations and look back up at the stars, it would remind us that while we may not have it all together, we are connected to a God who is limitless is wisdom.
I encourage you in this season of life to not get stuck or caught up trying to be a firefighter when God created you to be a fruit bearer (and perhaps a stargazer). But the only way we can be fruitful, the only way we can be effective is that we walk in the limitless wisdom of God. By myself, I’m limited in every way but with God we have access to His limitlessness found in the place of grace.
Prayer Focus: Invite the limitless wisdom of God into the unresolved issues of your life.
I’m praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
One day we were leaving the home of Chanell’s parents and as we approached the car, Elisha looked up to the sky and pointed, saying “Daddy, I can see the Big Dipper.” I paused and glanced up and quickly located the collection of stars that form the Big Dipper and said “Yes, sweetie, I see it.” I thought to myself, “When was the last time I looked at the stars?” At that moment I was reminded of the innocent perspective of a child. How they are able to see the things that we’ve grown to overlook as adults. It’s not that we cannot see, but our minds are clouded by the various concerns of life. We’re often trying to figure things out, such as our finances, the well-being of our children (both young and old), relationships, and our future. Our minds are constantly calculating, analyzing variables and estimating outcomes. We lay down at night with so many problems unsolved and matters unresolved, only to wake up the next day and pick them back up again.
This is the cycle that many of us have yielded to, dedicating our lives to putting out fires. And while it’s good to put out fires, God did not create us to be emotional firefighters, instead He created us to be spiritual fruit bearers. If we are spending a great deal of our lives putting out fires, it’s likely a sign that we're attempting to live beyond our limitations. That means we're trying to control what we clearly can’t instead of controlling the things we can. And if we were honest, the problems we’ve been trying to fix, we don’t possess the wisdom to fix them.
But when did life get so complicated? When did we become so distracted? Perhaps you’re like me and you’re asking yourself the same question I did, "When was the last time I looked at the stars?” The truth is if we were to look at the stars, we would find the answer to our problems. Psalm 147:4-5 says “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies also! Think of it! With such a great number of stars, the word tells us that God numbers them all and calls each of them by name! This is nothing short of amazing and a representation of the limitless wisdom of God! Yes, "his understanding has no limit!"
Studies show that the universe is still expanding at this moment. As Christians we believe that all of creation was spoken into existence by the words of God. This means that a word that God spoke at the beginning of time is still at work today. There are pictures that prove hows the universe is still expanding. I want you to understand that God’s word is limitless and so is His wisdom. If we would become aware our limitations and look back up at the stars, it would remind us that while we may not have it all together, we are connected to a God who is limitless is wisdom.
I encourage you in this season of life to not get stuck or caught up trying to be a firefighter when God created you to be a fruit bearer (and perhaps a stargazer). But the only way we can be fruitful, the only way we can be effective is that we walk in the limitless wisdom of God. By myself, I’m limited in every way but with God we have access to His limitlessness found in the place of grace.
Prayer Focus: Invite the limitless wisdom of God into the unresolved issues of your life.
I’m praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
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