Trusting Divine Wisdom in the Messiness of Life

“The good obtain favor from the Lord,but those who devise evil God condemns.”— Proverbs 12:2 (NRSV)

Even though I know I have been afforded grace upon grace, it is also clear to me that devising evil has never been a path of God’s desire—never something overlooked as if forgiveness is a free pass to do harm now, trusting that later everything will be washed away.

Standing alone, this proverb can paint a stark picture. Condemnation, in passages like this, can become a lens for seeing part of where God’s heart was being revealed before the world bore witness to divine provision through the redemptive power of Christ. And I think that matters, because we—people created in God’s image—so easily fall into dichotomies when we’re trying to live in the messiness of life.

We simplify quickly: good leads to favor, evil leads to condemnation. Case closed. Deal out the rewards and punishments.

We are so ready to judge shortcomings and reward what we see as good behavior. Yet long before Jesus, God loved us, wanted for us, provided for us, and held us accountable for our choices. And in our increased knowing—because we have learned from Jesus—we also gain a deeper understanding of the grief in God’s heart. We come to see more clearly what God has wanted for us all along, as we witness the walk and talk of Jesus—God with us.

Even with the gift of hindsight, we often take the easy path. Rather than pulling the plank from our own eye, we focus on the speck in another’s. (Matthew 7:3–5) Rather than giving out of what we have, we fixate on the greater wealth of others. (Luke 12:15; 1 Timothy 6:6–10) Rather than loving others as created and living beings, we hate and treat them based on what we think they deserve. (Matthew 5:43–48; 1 John 4:20–21)

Ultimately, we rest in old ways even as we claim to live new lives in Christ. (Ephesians 4:22–24; 2 Corinthians 5:17)

I believe that whatever good we may obtain from God through our good works is not gifted to us because we earned it. It is a gift that has already been there—already paid for—waiting for us to receive it by saying yes to following after God’s heart. The gifts of God are graces we can never earn. (Ephesians 2:8–10)

And these are the things we miss, forget, or overlook when our way of being is clouded by choosing evil ways.

It may very well be that if the writers of Proverbs had known Jesus, this is the understanding they would bring: that God is not the One who brings about the punishments and evils of this world, but the One who creates paths for us to live fully in God’s presence—if we would choose to receive grace rather than flounder in our failures and the evils around us. (John 10:10; James 1:13–17)

God knows I fail at trusting divine wisdom, and I will accept God’s correction so that the trust I put in my own thinking is built on the ways of God that are greater than my understanding. (Proverbs 3:5–6; Isaiah 55:8–9)

God knows I fail at trusting divine wisdom, and I will accept God’s correction so that the actions I take are not driven by my emotions—even when my feelings prove helpful in recognizing what is evil and what is good. May all that I do find direction in God. (Galatians 5:16–17, 22–23; James 1:19–20)

God knows I fail at trusting divine wisdom, and I will accept God’s correction so that I don’t over-spiritualize practical, day-to-day challenges and desires. Yes, God is the light of my life that urges and inspires great things in me, but God is also at work when I am tired, bored, frustrated, and otherwise don’t feel motivated to follow God and receive grace. (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18; Philippians 2:12–13; Psalm 23:1–3)

Sometimes trust is hard to build. But God set the path for us and lived among us, knowing we learn a lot through our mistakes and through lived experience. (John 1:14; Hebrews 4:15) As we keep living, may we trust the process—even if we don’t understand it all of the time—and put the wisdom of God first in our thinking, reasoning, habit formation, and practices of daily living.

Amen.