Wisdom

Recently I was watching a back-and-forth discussion online between a Bible teacher and a theologian.  It was striking that the theologian was smarter than the Bible teacher, but the Bible teacher was wiser than the theologian. 

The theologian was making a very strong argument based on metaphysics: it was a very good argument. But the Bible teacher just kept saying, "but that's not what the text says." 

If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then surely refusing to abandon the ground of what Scripture actually says must be a big part of being wise.

 

Quiet, obedient, and good

We were back in town over the weekend, attending a weekend Bible conference. I was thumbing through the song book and found an old friend:

There once was a wild little donkey,

He had to be tied to a tree,

And Jesus was thinking about him;

He said, "Go and bring him to Me."

And when they had brought him to Jesus

As quickly as ever they could,

That restless, that wild little donkey

Was quiet, obedient and good.

When Jesus was riding upon him,

He went just the way that he should,

A quiet, submissive wee donkey

Made so by the blest Son of God.

And Jesus is able to make you

Whatever He wants you to be.

He loves you and longs to forgive you

And make you both happy and free.

It's a favorite of the under-four crowd: at least one of them requests "The donkey song" when given a chance. They seem to lose interest when they get to school age, which is a pity. I think my own [teen-aged] kids were probably embarrassed when I'd sing it in the car on the way home from meeting.

Every once in a while someone wants to sing "Yield not to temptation." I think if we just sang "The donkey song" instead, we'd be in much better shape.