"Knowledge hurts sometimes!" My granddaughter, Paige, exclaimed the one day.

Her outburst rang a bell with me. Facts discovered about sin in my life or someone else's can easily cause me to wince, step away, or weep. It seems the truth causes pain before it sets us free. Certainly not all truth reveals sin. Sometimes it is a discovery of beauty, grace, or love. It is the knowing of evil that hurts.

Adam and Eve were the first to know pain. The knowledge they acquired from disobedience became a life of pain, not only for them but for us as well. The scriptures tell us plainly that even God experiences pain from knowing our sin. He became a man so He could take our sin upon himself. He suffered with the knowledge of becoming sin for us.(2 Corinthians 5:21)

God also suffers in knowing our sin-filled lives. He is grieved because He knows how much sin hurts us. Knowledge hurts God sometimes, just as it does us. We have a Savior that truly understands.

Savior Lord, You know all and yet you remain good. You are the only One we can go to with the pain of our knowing. Forgive us our sins, Good Father! Thank You for knowing all and revealing truth.

A Lot to Learn

I learned a lot this past year. I learned about God, and discovered I have so much more to learn! I also discovered that I need to learn more about myself and about others! I love to learn. That is a good thing when there is so much that needs learning!

Learning is a faith filled and disciplined task. To learn I must walk into uncharted territory. I do not know what might lie ahead in the search for understanding. I find that I often take small timid steps when I sense that the new knowledge will shake me to my bones or knock me off my feet. I need a strong faith to face what may come as a result of new knowledge. It also takes discipline to learn. Not all lessons are learned the first time I am exposed to them. I must take the lesson, do homework and repeat the new knowledge over and over to make it become a part of me.

The things I've learned in 2010 will be a foundation for the coming year. If the foundation is weak, I will walk through the lessons again till I make the structure of my knowledge of God, myself and others strong enough to support the new truths God reveals. I want that firm foundation. I want to live my life learning, believing, and trusting God for all truth, knowledge and wisdom.

Father, Author of Truth, Your wisdom and knowledge come to me when You are in Your rightful place in my life. I confess that though I love to learn new things I sometimes pride myself in the learning rather than setting You as the awesome Creator Revealer! Forgive me Lord. Knowing You is my deepest desire. I thirst to know You. Teach me Lord. Open my eyes and ears to You and I will be filled with Your knowledge and wisdom to be used for the sake of Your kingdom! Thank You for touching my life in deeper ways and with the nearness of You.

No Excuses

My husband, Patrick is a middle school teacher. We have many discussions about the young people in his classes that choose not to learn. They are capable, even if it is difficult, but they choose not to put forth the effort. They "tune out," not listening to the lesson. They push aside the work before trying to think it through. It is frustrating for teachers and very sad for the students.

One of the things we often hear, not only with students in school, but also with Christians making excuses about not reading their bible, is "I can't understand it." It may be true. It is hard to understand new concepts at the beginning, but it need not stay that way. When we make excuses, we essentially begin the fulfillment of our own prophecy of being ignorant. Excuses prevent us from using the tools given to us. I heard a quote today that tells it plainly. "Losers make excuses, Winners find a way." (Author unknown)

If you have ears, hear. If you have eyes, see. Jesus told us to hear and see so that we would know. He could have easily have gone on to say, "If you have a brain, think!" Even those who cannot see, hear, or who have suffered the loss of some basic abilities most of us enjoy, have proved that we can learn. We can know.

Knowledge of our world or our God comes to us if we are teachable. The way has been provided. We must not let excuses block our path to knowledge.

What are your excuses? Are you willing to be teachable? If you have ears or eyes, Jesus says to hear and see!

Dearest Lord Jesus, You are the greatest of all teachers! You made the Good News known to us through parables wanting us to hear and see just a little deeper. I can find many excuses not to learn. I know that hurts You. You want me to know all that I can. I am sorry. Thank You for teaching me to hear and see Your word and Your world fully. Take me deeper into You so that I might know the truth. Break my excuses and help me find a way!

Knowledge

"Knowledge hurts sometimes!" My granddaughter, Paige, exclaimed the other day. I had to agree with her.

I have pondered her words and I'm reminded that God, Himself, imposed limits on knowledge back in the Garden of Eden. The one tree forbidden to eat of its fruit was the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. There is much good to learn in our world. I must agree with God that the Knowledge of Evil hurts. Is there Good that we should not know? Does knowing good hurt also? If our marvelously GOOD God would withhold good from us there must be a reason. There is so much I do not know about the knowledge of good and evil.

I love to learn about this great and wonderful world. I love the life stories of people who have graced our planet and I learn so much from them. I especially enjoy learning about God. Knowledge to me is delightful most of the time, but there are moments when it hurts. When I am forced to change because of the facts presented to me, or when my comfortable world of relationships and circumstances are upended because of a new piece of information, it can hurt. It is then that my Faithful, All-Knowing God makes the knowledge of hurtful things to be good in my life.

Omniscient God and Father, You are always near, leading me and teaching me the things I must know. You give me knowledge of You and I thank You for the privilege of being Your child! When knowledge hurts, Lord, draw me close to You. Guard my mind and thoughts against the evil of this world and watch over me in good times and bad! I love You !

Wisdom

Wisdom, according to my research, is using knowledge in the correct way. It is making choices that have good outcomes. What is the standard of wisdom? Is there a difference between godly wisdom and worldly wisdom? If so, are both true wisdom? Can there be wisdom on both ends of the spectrum?

My Dad and Mom taught me to love learning. In our home, even now, there is an excitement about learning about the physical and spiritual aspects of our human condition. Knowledge and the right use of that knowledge is celebrated. In my experience there can be no separation of the two realities.

It is also my experience that yes, there is wisdom in the world and wisdom in the spiritual realm. Yes, I know that people decide for themselves what they deem wise. BUT, there is a wisdom the supersedes all wisdom we humans may set up.

Science has revealed to us the knowledge of laws that control the universe. These laws touch every aspect of our lives. There are certain principles that seem to be inherent in every person, and they too control our lives. Where did these laws and principles originate? Since I am a God- fearing person I espouse that they were set in place by our Creator. Others may have other ideas but for my purposes I will state with certainty that God has the highest wisdom because He has created us and our lawful boundaries. He has provided us with knowledge. He should be the lone judge of how this knowledge should be used in the correct way. He is the source of all wisdom, both worldly and godly.

It is nice to know God. He even told us that the beginning of wisdom and knowledge is the fear of the Lord. (Fear in this sense is more like respect.) I respect His law. I follow His principles. I also enjoy relationship with Him! When I ask for wisdom He freely gives it to me.

Wisdom. I want it. My choice is to learn and act in accordance with Gods laws so that I will attain the prize of living life well.