Series: Wisdom That Works
Message: What This Book Accomplishes
Preacher: Jenniffer Ogden
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Emily Ellis
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Proverbs 1:1-7 in the New International Version (NIV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.”
Smart people learn from smart people. I learned this from playing ping-pong. Seriously.
I started playing ping-pong at a relatively young age, and for some reason, I got really good at it, to the point that none of my neighborhood friends could beat me. By the time I got to high school, I handily won the ping-pong tournament. (That’s right, we had a ping-pong tournament at my high school. Jealous?) My freshman year of college yielded the same results. I had to sweat a little more, but I beat the competition.
Then one Saturday night I was humbled. I was the chaplain at a college in Canada that was hosting the Canadian Olympic ping-pong team for an exhibition. I was thrilled.
They put on a clinic, did their exhibition, and then extended an invitation to anyone who wanted to play them in a game. My reputation preceded me (thanks mostly to my bragging about my ping pong awesomeness) and the students and faculty pointed me out as the most worthy adversary.
I was matched up against the female player who was the newest to the squad. I couldn’t wait to show my skills to the Olympic team. The final score was 21-3. I lost. But, for the first time in a long time, I got to hang out with ping-pong players who were leaps and bounds better than me at the game.
After the exhibition (and the whomping), I got to spend another hour with the team. They gave me all kinds of tips on how to strengthen my game. This was advice that I could never have received from people that I could better in the game.
This practice of learning from those who are better than you at any discipline is key to growing in every kind of way. It really doesn’t matter how good you are at whatever you are trying to do—you can always learn from those who know more. That, of course, takes a willingness to learn and not settle. I hope in the important things in life (like ping-pong) I don’t become someone who settles. My prayer for you and me is that tomorrow will find us a little better than we are today.
Recalibrate: What’s one area of your life that you would like to be better at five years from now? How will that improvement be realized?
Respond: Believe the promise that God will finish in you that which He has started. Commit to working with Him in this process. Pray for wisdom to achieve your goals.
Research: Read The Art of Turning Losing Into Winning by David G. Allan.
Remember: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7).
Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon.
Try something new with your little one today. It could be rolling Play-Doh or threading pasta tubes on a string. Whatever it is, show them how to do it. Encourage them along the way. See how they learn by words and by actions and by repeating the same action over and over again. Encouragement is such a motivator. Apply it liberally.
Set up an obstacle course in your backyard or living room. You could use chairs, toys—you name it—to make a tricky path. Have someone time you and see how fast you can go through it. Write down how long it took. Now, put on a blindfold and see how long it takes you. Much longer, huh? Keep your blindfold on, but ask a friend or family member to talk you through the obstacle course. Did it help having someone tell you where to go? That’s sometimes how life is— people with a lot of wisdom sometimes see things that others don’t and they are there to help you!
Lately I have been trying to get into better shape. And with that plan, comes the journey to the gym four nights a week. Going to the gym is hard after a full day of work. Now that I have been going for a few weeks, I know more about what my muscles can and can’t handle. And I also look at the world differently. With the change in my muscles and in my mind, I am also learning new proverbs; modern ones. Take this one for example, “If you think a minute goes by quickly, try running on a treadmill.” I know now how funny this lesson is and just how true its message is! Running is not my favorite thing in the world. Especially when I keep my eye on the clock. It never moves as fast as I do. And when I am trying to run for a specific amount of time, it seems to move more slowly the longer I watch it!
Proverbs 1 says that to be wise, one must seek “to understand a proverb and a saying” and try to learn “the words of the wise and their riddles.” For me, that means learning from experience. As tough as it is, I not only know how long a minute can be, but I know the value of running for that much time— and longer! It’s good to see what a minute means in different places so that you can understand that each minute is valuable. To let a minute go by without making something of it can be wasteful. Sometimes that means running when I’m tired. Sometimes it means spending time to just breathe and be reminded of the good things in life. In either case, you don’t know the value until you try it. Each minute you do, you become one minute wiser. For better or for worse.
What do you think is the best use of your minutes? What is something you can try doing for a minute that might better your life? What would you say to God if you were to talk to Him for one minute? What might God say to you if you were to listen to Him for a minute?
One of the greatest things about living in 2019 is that information is at our fingertips. Within seconds, we can find out what is happening in England, see some guy’s Instagram from across the United States, and find answers to random questions like “Why isn’t eleven pronounced onety-one?” But instant information sometimes causes us to mentally check out when it comes to searching for answers. Often I find myself approaching my Bible like I approach my iPhone. And that is with the anticipation that if I flip my Bible open I will immediately find answers. However, the Bible doesn’t work that way. It’s not some book where you just skim to the right page, glance at a verse, and boom!—you have your answer. Rather it’s a book of wrestling and doubt. It’s a book to engage with, not to become passive with. Proverbs 1:5-6 encourages us to explore the meaning of the proverbs and parables. That means that this book (and the entire Bible) is not meant for us to just read and then check out. This book invites us to explore and wrestle with the meaning and, in the process, to see what God is trying to tell us through these words and verses. I invite you to take some time today to truly meditate on God’s word. Not to just rush through to find answers like we do with our phones, but to dwell and explore what He might have to say to you.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Jessyka Dooley is assistant youth director for the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Denver, Colorado.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Emily Ellis is a senior studying theology at Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington.