94. Seeking God's Wisdom

When life presents countless voices telling you what to do, how do you know whose wisdom to trust?

In this episode of the Fully Dependent Summer Series, Amanda Mejias and Corinne Allen explore what it means to seek God's wisdom in every area of life and ministry. In a world filled with advice, opinions, and endless information, it can be tempting to rely on our own understanding or the wisdom of the culture around us. Yet Scripture consistently points believers to a better source, God Himself.

Amanda and Corinne discuss the difference between worldly knowledge and godly wisdom, highlighting biblical passages that call believers to trust in the Lord and seek His guidance daily. They share practical encouragement for ministry leaders, moms, and women navigating everyday decisions, reminding listeners that God generously gives wisdom to those who ask.

Whether you're facing a major ministry challenge, making a family decision, or simply seeking direction for the day ahead, this conversation will encourage you to cultivate a deeper dependence on God through prayer and trust.

God never intended for us to navigate life and ministry on our own. As we seek Him daily, He faithfully provides the wisdom, direction, and discernment we need. True dependence begins when we stop trusting ourselves and start asking God to lead every step.

Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use encouragement to seek God's wisdom in her current season.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome back to his Glory Her Good, a podcast for women in student ministry. We are your hosts. I'm Corinne. And I'm Amanda. And welcome back to our fully dependent summer series. Sloop. We are jumping right in with our next thing.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

So if you listen to week one, don't worry. You can listen to these out of order. One doesn't build off the other. However, I would say now you know if you did listen to week one, we're going to be in our word. So feel free to take a pause. Literally pause this podcast. Go grab your Bible. Maybe take a few minutes. If you're driving in the car, do not do that. But if you are uh sitting around, this is a great time. We'll just take the next 10 or so minutes just to open up God's word. And we're going to tackle our first word or today's word of uh the fully dependent series, which is on wisdom. So we want to be women who are not fully dependent on the wisdom of this world, but obviously on God's wisdom. And let me tell you, uh, summertime is a time where everything we know goes out the window, right? Um we think, man, I've got this. The the I have been in ministry for 20 years. And then there's that one high school student that just like wrecks your world in the worst way possible. I'll stop saying that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

No longer you're in ministry like I'm open.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah, there's seriously like you could never like arrive of being like, I've done this for so long. And of course, there's seasons that things are repeatable, nothing's new under the sun. But um, man, there are so many opportunities for the summer, whether it's camp or just normal Wednesday nights or that extra free time that you're spending with your teenagers and parents and even just preparing for the fall. I would say a lot of times um teams are looking toward what's coming up and they're trying to have wisdom there. And we wanna kind of talk through a little bit today of just like what does it look like for me this summer to be fully dependent, not on the knowledge of AI, not just on what I learned in seminary, but on the wisdom of God. And so hopefully by now you have your Bible. Um, we're gonna turn to 1 Corinthians chapter one, and we're gonna kind of start out in verse 20. But um this is obviously to the Church of Corinth, and I love that there is is addressing both the Jewish and the Greeks here in this, in these couple verses. Um, and I want you to keep an ear out as you're as I'm reading this of like what is it that we are seeking? Um, because the Jews are seeking one thing, the Greeks are seeking something else. And my question for you is what are you seeking? So, all right, let's look at verse 20. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolish? For since in God's wisdom the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. We're going to continue on in verse 26. Brothers and sisters, consider your calling. Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world, what is viewed as nothing, to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us, our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. In order as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

So good.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So good. Um, I I love this passage because it doesn't really talk about like seeking wisdom as like answers here. Um, I it reminds me of the book of Proverbs in the sense that wisdom was personified, right, as a person. And then we get to the New Testament and God's like, no, the wisdom of God is Jesus. Um you may be after answers and seeking man, like, God, I don't know what to do in a situation. Like, give me, give me the shining light um on the side of the road to know like what to do. And the Lord and his kindness is like, no, the wisdom that you are seeking is only found in Jesus, not in these elaborate miracles and signs like the Jews were seeking, and also not in just like knowledge and how much theology you know. Um, God says, Stop. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is the fact that Jesus went and died on a cross, and that's who you put your trust in.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

And so, with that being said, if our wisdom comes from putting our trust in God, um, I want to go back to Proverbs 3, um, which is a very familiar verse. I'm sure all these verses that you're hearing are like, I knew this, you know, why did I wana in elementary school? Um, but those verses, there's a reason we memorize them when we are young, um, because those are the truths that we need to come back to. And so if wisdom is a person and we are supposed to seek Jesus, then Proverbs 3, 5 through 6 reminds us to trust in the Lord with all our heart, not in our own understanding or our own feelings or our own fill-in-the-blank, um, but in all our ways acknowledge him and he will direct our paths. So, my encouragement to you, um the next situation that you face. Um, for me, recently we were trying to figure out like where to move, which is so minor in the grand scheme of things. Um, but we were trying to figure out where we needed to move, and I truly felt like I do not know. Um, because the math ain't mathing, right? The area I want to live in, the math ain't mathing of how to get there. And um, logically doesn't make sense for me to live over here, and realistically, we could never do that over there. And so, like, I just like came to a point where like I don't even have understanding. I can't even pretend like I have understanding. I'm the people in First Corinthians uh chapter one, where it talks about like God chose what is foolish. Like I felt like a fool. Um, and I'm like, the time, the time is running out on like what decision we're gonna make of like where to like land on a house. Do we buy? Do we rent? Do we go to this school district or that? And this verse is always my anchor, Proverbs 3, 5 through 6. And this is what I'm hoping for you this summer. So, whatever situation, maybe it's a frustrated parent, maybe it is a difficult situation with a teenager, maybe it's like a conflict at work right now that you're dealing with some weird team dynamics, and you're like, I don't really know God what to do. And honestly, a lot of times I think God doesn't allow us to know what to do in order that we may go back to him and say, trust in the Lord. That trust is that same as like the relaxing. We're gonna relax into God, we're gonna go back to him, we're gonna surrender to him. And we're not gonna base it on, man, God, this isn't logical, this isn't realistic, this isn't financially responsible. Um, fill in the blank. I'm not gonna trust in my own ways. And what I can see with my limited human mind said, I'm gonna acknowledge that you, God, are sovereign and in control. You got me, you can handle it, right? And know that he will direct your paths. It may not be the path you thought God was gonna direct you down. Um, but if you remember the one that you put your trust in, then it doesn't matter kind of where he directs you because you know that if if he is good, if he is kind, then even in your limited human views, um, you know that God can use something that's shameful and foolish and make it wise um and bring good from him. Yeah. Um, I want to bring up uh two other just passages of scripture that I think are really helpful when it comes to seeking wisdom. Uh, James 1 is another, again, familiar passage of scripture that we hear all the time. And we quote it to our teenagers, and then when it comes down to it, we're like, that's for me too. Are you kidding me? Um, but James chapter one of verse five um says, Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting, for the doubter is like the surging seed, driven and tossed by the wind. Um, that person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways. We, again, well, out of one side of our mouth, we're like, trust God, he's good. Ask him, he's a generous God, and we we love him. We can lift our hands and worship and uh and praise about how God, I'm just so grateful. And then we get down to it and we see this like what feels like a minor situation to us, maybe buying a house, maybe it's having a difficult situation with a teenager. And we go to anybody and everything but God. Yeah. Except the only one that can give us perfect wisdom is God Himself, is the actual wisdom of God Himself. Um, and I think it's we think that He just like wants to play with us. Like He we like He stands up in heaven is just like, Oh, good luck, figuring it out. And we forget um here in verse five, where it says, like, um, that he gives to all generously and ungrudgingly. He's not a God up there with his arms crossed at us, being like, You should have been smarter, should have had that degree by now. Um, and said, God just come to me. And he gives. And I can I tell you, like just from the testimony of my own life, and I'd love to hear from you, Kryn, of like just a time where you ask God for wisdom, like this house situation, the Lord led us to a house that was not on my bucket list or on the thing that I thought was next. But can I tell you, God like so clearly gave us the wisdom and what to do and has broken open the door, and it's not like a prosperity gospel because obviously, like this isn't like again, this is not the ideal situation, sure, but it was God's provision. And I mean, I could not have come up with this plan on my own. Um, and yet I can look at it already, haven't even moved into the house yet and can say, Man, God is so good and He led me here. And if God led me there, I don't care about being anywhere else. Uh, when has it been a time recently where you've had to ask the Lord for wisdom?

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Okay, so the mental picture I'm literally going to in like the last couple weeks because I feel like a ministry example girl texts you middle of the night, you're like, Oh gosh, what has happened? I didn't see it at that time, but it was, I really she just gave her life to the Lord and has been walking through sanctification. We just got to baptize her, and it's been really cool to see. But she's like, all I want to do is go off on my mom. And her mom's not a believer, and there's just some hard things going on. And she's 18, about to move. Like, it's just it's nuanced, it's layered. So we're working through what does it mean to honor our parents, but then when they don't know the Lord. And so that's an example of it would be so easy to be like, well, let me take you through my ministry, knowledge and experience, and let me give you a text back to go, okay. No, hold on, Lord. Like, I'm your daughter, she's your daughter, her mom is your daughter. Like, give me wisdom to navigate in conversation and in question asking, not just in answers. Like, I need to be pointing her back to Jesus. And then I think about like personally, I'm like, okay, my 17-month-old daughter is put now six rocks in her mouth. And every time I tell her no, she thinks it's hilarious. And oh my goodness, I need wisdom from the Lord because I could see where my flesh would be so. I know she doesn't fully know better, but she kind of does. And she doesn't need to like choke on these rocks, but we gotta learn a lesson. But I don't need to act out in like anger of like she's still a little baby toddler. And so, Lord, give me wisdom. And I love that that's what you were saying. Of I think we've got to like practice daily the muscle of asking for wisdom and not only reserving the times that we crowd to God for wisdom for when we think it's like crisis, which we should. But before you click buy now on Amazon, like, did you ask the Lord, like, is this a wise personal purchase? Like, is Lord, give me wisdom before I hang out with my friends or share about what you've been doing in my life so that I'm not boasting in myself. I'm boasting in the Lord. Lord, give me wisdom to forgive or to not speak defensively back to the coworker that was unkind. And I think just practicing the what feels like you're saying seemingly insignificant, but it's building a muscle so that I pray it's like second reflex to go. I'm always seeking the Lord's wisdom to do it his way.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yep. And he's so faithful to provide. Yep. Um, I'll finish with this and then I'll pray for us. Um the practice part, it's it's so true. And I think that's why I love Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, because you can actually walk through the verse line by line or phrase by phrase and um in every situation that you're doing. So trust in the Lord, God, who am I trusting in? Right? Who I'm trusting in a good God and a kind God and a heavenly father, somebody who loves me. I'm gonna surrender to you. Um, what's my understanding? What's my understanding of the situation? Okay, God. Is that what I'm putting my trust in? Yeah. And then I'm gonna acknowledge you, God, where are you working in this situation? Where are you moving? How can I be aware, more aware of your Holy Spirit um in this moment? Um, those are the kind of things that I would just encourage you to put into practice now. So when you get into that tough conversation with a parent or a situation where you can easily provide wisdom for a student, um, how are you slowing down and re-recknowledging who is it that I need to put my trust in? So good. Um so can I pray for us? Please do. Okay, God, thank you for just the the girl on the other side of this podcast who is listening. Um, Lord, I know every um one of us, God probably can bring a lot of different requests to you. And I thank you that you're not a God who's far off with his arms crossed at us, but you are a um good heavenly father who loves his children, who loves your daughter. And I pray right now that you would provide um clarity where clarity is needed. Would you give us counsel where counsel is needed? Um, God, may we be fully dependent on you as our ultimate wisdom. That we, God, we just stop seeking after just answers and things. Um, but God, we would seek out the peace um that is surpasses understanding um that can only be found in you. Um, God, thank you for being good. Um, we love you and we thank you in your son's name. Amen. Amen. His Glory Her Good is a production of the Life Way Podcast Network. We're your hosts, Corinne Allen and Amanda Mejis.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

We are so grateful that you joined us, and we'll see you next time.