A couple of days ago I made a post I called "Wisdom or Caution." This morning, someone at church came up to me and said they had read it. But this person came away with the idea that I was criticizing the young couple I briefly mention. I was shocked! The criticism was aimed at me. I thought that was plain. Obviously not. My attempt at succinctness sacrificed clarity. I have made one alteration that I hope will make it abundantly clear, all fingers are pointed at me!
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee . . . So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him . . . and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. Genesis 12:1, 4
When you are young, you just know that you know everything.
With a few more years you begin to realize that that’s not quite true. Wisdom has begun.
When you are old, worked awhile, been married awhile, raised kids, you do have some wisdom. You’ve seen some things; been through some things; hopefully, learned some things.
The brashness of youth is replaced with the hesitancy of maturity.
Or, is it temerity replaced by timidity? *
In other words, is it Wisdom or Caution?
I know a couple in their twenties. They have sold or given everything away in order to spend two years on the Mercy Ship in ministry along the coast of Africa. Great! Right?
Yes. It is great. But I confess, I keep thinking about what they will do when their two years is up. They will have to start from scratch. This kind of thinking is not wisdom. It is terrible!
I’ve surrounded myself with a few of my favorite things; with comfort and routine. I don’t consider myself as having a lot of things, but I have realized recently, in reading the Sermon on the Mount, that I have so many things it would take me a while to up and move.
This is the caution of comfort and routine, not the hesitancy of wisdom.
This is what is so amazing about Abram. He was 75 years old. God said Get thee out of thy country and he went. I know there was some hesitancy on his part, and that he lived to be 175 years old - he was just barely middle age, but, he was 75 years old! When God said “Go” he went! He left his comfort and routine. That was wisdom.
It is always wisdom to obey the voice of the Lord.
The brashness of youth is often marked by rashness and presumption. The caution of old age by hesitancy. One steps too soon and too far. The other steps not at all. I want to be wise and not rash; to walk in faith and not presumption. But, when God speaks I want to have the temerity of faith and my youth, not the timidity of comfort and routine.
*Temerity - the quality of being confident and unafraid of danger
Timidity - lack of willingness to take risks
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