God With Us – June 21, 2023 (176/365)

No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD.

Proverbs 21:30

If we see this from another particular angle, we say that any wisdom, understanding, or counsel cannot avail against the Lord. To expound on each of those items, we can first say that any meaningful experience, deep learning, or sound advice does not ‘avail against the Lord’; that is, wisdom, understanding, or counsel never goes against God. Or, we could also say that wisdom, understanding, or counsel only avails FOR the Lord, meaning, again, any meaningful experience, any deep learning, or any sound advice will always be in line with God.

If we consult Scripture we are referred to from this verse according to the ESV, we come up with Isaiah 8:9-10:

Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries;

strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered.

Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

The translation gives us a wider perspective on that first verse, so we can also read it as follows: ‘Be evil, you peoples, and be dismayed’, as if to say that anything we can call evil in this world has its links to brokenness; The way I see it, brokenness may not always result in evil, but evil definitely leads to brokenness. Or evil projects brokenness, and wherever brokenness is observed, so we discern that evil is involved in some way or form.

With this in mind, we can read how the prophet goes on to point out that though we may ‘strap on (our) armor’, it does nothing to change the fact that the evil that breaks us still remains. We understand that no armor can conceal our dismay; also, any armor can protect us from the outside, but is no help to our being shattered from within. And, moving on, we may try to make something out of it by way of collaboration, but a shattered man consulting with another shattered man would only have shattered or useless results (‘it will come to nothing’); any words we speak, no matter how confident or bold they may sound – none of it would have any lasting impact (‘it will not stand’).

Putting all this together, it’s as if we’re led to realize that any ‘wisdom’, or any ‘understanding’, or any ‘counsel’ apart from the Lord is… well, shattered. Dismaying.

But here’s the good news – In the fullness of time the Son of God stepped away from heavenly glory to be born as one of us. This Son of Man lay down His life, becoming sin and died the death we deserved, so we would become His righteousness and rise to everlasting Life which He deserved. He became shattered and dismayed, so that we would be whole and comforted, by way of restoring our relationship with God – and it HAS been restored, much so that we call God our Father, just as Christ calls Him His Father.

So through Christ we speak in the same boldness, as Isaiah prophesied – Let the world and all its peoples strap on their armor. Let them unite against us, and let them try to drown us out with their many words… but it all comes to nothing, and all that stands would fall, shattered and dismayed; for, indeed, we have Christ, we have Emmanuel – that is, ‘God is with us’.

And through Christ, we live and move and have our being, knowing that God is for us, and not against us – and as such, any experience is made meaningful, any learning will go deep, and all advice is made sound; For through Christ, we have God as our Father, and we have HIS wisdom, HIS understanding, and HIS counsel.

The ESV also points out 1 Corinthians 3:19-20, but I think we should look into it more extensively, by looking at verses 18-23:

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men.

Once we had no choice – apart from God, we were folly with God – We were His enemies, and as such any ‘wisdom’ we gathered was also separate from Him. As such, any ‘wisdom’ apart from God apparently comes back against us (this is how I understand ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’), and (as Fight Club quotes) on a long-enough timeline, any thoughts we derive from wisdom are futile. But as we realize this, we give God the glory and thanks all the more! Why?

For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Now at first I thought I sort of misinterpreted ‘all things are yours’, thinking that Paul elaborated by way of saying we have Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or… death? I was ready to conclude that we can also throw in wisdom, understanding, and counsel in the mix, but what’s death doing there? Going back to the ESV, I am referred, for some reason, to the famous Romans 8:28:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

It’s as if to say that all things are indeed ‘ours’, by way of God making all things – Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – God makes all these work together for good.

And putting ALL this together, I seem to come to my own conclusion. I tended to focus on wisdom, understanding, and counsel, but I ended up praising God, because what mattered even more than any of these things, or ALL things for that matter, is the Truth that through Christ, I am NOT against the LORD; but through Christ, God is my Father, and as such, He is FOR me.

And with that said, indeed, let no one boast in men – let us boast in Christ! For all things – the world, or life, or death, or present, or the future – all this is ours, as all things work together for good – because we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

True wisdom, understanding, and counsel comes from God, and because of Christ, God is with us, now and forever.

Until the next post, God bless you.