Scripture Reference
Quality #2 - Peaceable
James writes that wisdom from above is "first of all pure". The second quality he gives God's wisdom is "peaceable". The Greek word for peaceable is eirenikos. It is only used twice in the New Testament--
here in James 13:17 and in Hebrews 12:11. It comes from the root word "eirene" that is used throughout the New Testament to mean a lot of different kinds of peace:
- Harmony between individuals
- Security and safety
- The way that leads to salvation
- Assurance of standing with God through salvation
- Content with one's earthly lot
If we think about the opposites of these, it doesn't take long to realize that those opposites are often what the world has to offer us. I have a book that I'll probably reference a lot in these devotional
challenges called "The Economy of God" by Witness Lee. If you've never heard of him, you may have heard of his mentor Watchman Nee. Anyway, I love this book because it leads the reader to understand how much
different God's economy is from the world's economy. For example, the world says life is all about acquiring for yourself. God's economy emphasizes prioritizing others above yourself. In the world economy,
you are the king. In God's economy, Jesus is King. You get the idea--the world's economy and God's economy are very often in opposition.
Wisdom coming from God is going to lead you toward harmonizing relationships in your life. If for some odd reason, a thought entered your mind about getting even with someone, or paying them back for the wrong
they did, and you're wondering if God is leading you down that road, you can almost assuredly say no. That's not a peaceable solution. Trust me, God doesn't need you in the venence business. He's capable, if we
will let Him, of exactly vengence in His own way--if He chooses to.
Wisdom coming from God is going lead you toward peace in your relationship with Him. How many of us go through points in our lives where we doubt we are saved. Maybe where we don't feel God's presence or where
we've done something we think is so bad that God has turned His back on us. Those thoughts, those feelings are not coming from God. Does God want us to take sin seriously? Of course. But not at a level where
we stop believing the promises He has made to us about his unconditional love and security of salvation.
Look at the last use of peaceable--being content with one's earthly lot. Some of the messages that the Enemy tries to deceive us with have to do
with our particular lot in life. Maybe you've been treated unfairly, or in comparison to others, you see lots of things that are lacking. Why
can't I be as pretty as... Why can't I be as smart as... The Lord is never going to hold up your situation in life as a point of comparison with
others so that it brings you down or discourages you. Now, you may very well see something in another person's life that inspires you to better
yourself, but the Lord will never give you messages of condemnation. Most of us could stand to listen to those kinds of discouraging
discouraging messages a lot less, and listen for God's encouragement a lot more!
Quality #3 - Gentle
Gentle is translated from the Greek Word epieikes. I like to think of this in the context of a washing machine. Pretty much every washing machine has a "gentle" cycle. It's obviously there so you can put more
delicate items in there and the thrashing around that is used to clean your dirty socks is a lot less violent on your bedazzled Christmas sweater. The root of the Greek word appears other places in James. For example,
James 1:6 that talks about not being tossed by the sea or wind. And James 1:23 that uses the analogy of a man looking at himself in the mirror then walking away and forgetting what he looks like.
Wisdom coming from God is going to lead us to take gentle actions. To have a measured response to a situation. Sometimes that may be waiting some time before acting. How many of us have sent text messages or
emails that within a few minutes we wish we could "unsend". It all started because all we could hear is our mind was "react, react, react". All the time, God may have been trying to say, "wait, wait, wait".
I think this is a good place to ask ourselves, "Is what we think we are hearing for God coming to us in a way that is consistent with how Jesus responded to situations and dealt with peole?" Even in those places
where Jesus was frustrated, His actions were based on love and directing people toward the Father. Is that what I'm hearing? If not, I have to really wonder if I'm hearing from the Lord or not.
Quality #4 - Reasonable
The fourth quality in James' list of qualities of wisdom from God is the Greek word eupeithes that is translated reasonable. Putting the root words in Greek together leads us toward the idea of being pursuaded toward
prosperity. God's wisdom is going to want to move us toward prospering in God's economy. We can ask ourselves, is what we are hearing reasonable in consideration of Biblical truth? Does it fit with helping us
to follow God's will for our lives? Is it pursuading or leading us toward obedience?
I like the root words translation because the word "reasonable" is a little tricky. Sometimes God may be directing us toward something that in the world's eyes would seem very unreasonable. But when considered
alongside God's truth, God's priorities, God's goals and God's will, unreasonable things from the world's perspective turn out to be very reasonable from God's. We can always be assured that God is leading us
toward prosperity, but it's toward Kingdom prosperity and not necessarily worldly prosperity.
I think we will stop there and pick up with the rest of the qualities next week. Meantime, take a look at the challenge questions. We want to be not only learning how to better listen to God in the future, but
continue looking at places in the past where we have and haven't heard from God, so we learn from them.
Challenge Questions
I hope you're writing stuff down! At some point, we'll do a devotional challenge on journaling. Until then, trust me. Write stuff down.
Continue thinking about some times in the past where you felt the Lord leading you to do something or giving you wisdom in a particular situation--this time maybe some that were
related to this week's qualities--peaceable, gentle, persuaded toward prosperity. Use the following questions to do a post-mortem on them.
- What's a time when you felt God calling you to something, but it turns out you were wrong?
- What led you to think you were hearing from God?
- Looking back, was there something that was not "pure" about what you heard that should have clued you in you weren't hearing from God?
- At what point did you realize you had not heard from God? What happened or what did you realize?
- How will you be better able to discern wisdom from God as a result of this experience?
- Now think about a time you thought you heard from God and it turned out that you were. How was that experience different from the one from the previous questions?
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Who is someone maybe older and/or wiser in your life that you could ask these questions to? Could you make a plan to get up with them and let them share their experiences
with hearing from God?
Praying Us Out
Lord of Heaven and earth. We sometimes forget the "earth" part. Seems the world is in such chaos and there's so much going on that's opposed
to Your perfectly designed economy. But still You are Lord over the earth. And we know that You will bring everything to account whenever You
choose to. Let us wait patiently upon You in ALL ways and at ALL times. Father, we are seeking Your wisdom--not only Your wisdom, but being able
to discern what is and what isn't coming from You. I just pray for those who will go through the challenge questions and learn more about how to
listen to You, as well as what to do with the wisdom we are receiving. May Jesus be glorified as we seek You and Your Kingdom. Amen.
