Knowledge vs. Wisdom

Knowledge is power.....or so I've heard. This is a famous slogan, especially for teachers. I've even used it myself on a group of middle-schoolers who didn't seem motivated by my lectures. It seems a little off...it just bugs me. I know what the slogan might be trying to say: The more you know the more options you have. It can create a sense of freedom.

But it isn't the knowledge that's powerful, its how its expressed or acted on. To Adam and Eve, the knowledge of good and evil brought them shame, guilt, regret, judgment, and an especially eerie feeling of self-awareness.

I love to pray at the beginning of each year about where God is leading me. I want to focus in on what His will is for me. This January the Lord whispered in my ear Proverbs 4:5, "Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them." This verse is now a part of my being as I journey forward on my path to developing the mind of Christ. I love that the writer points out here that wisdom is something to be sought after...its not something that just happens. I have to get it! I must go after it! I know where its found for the Lord tells me in the next breath: His words.

Ok, so lets back up. We were talking about knowledge. Yesterday I found myself in a meeting with three women who decided to come together to see what can be done about the travesty of human trafficking. One of them is heading up an event to raise awareness on the subject by hosting a panel of wise and courageous men and women in a few months at Bethel Temple in Hampton. My spirit has been grieved over this issue for the past year after I was at a conference where the speaker spoke candidly about women and children who were sold for dollars and made to entertain upwards of 40 men a day. How can your heart not break at the thought of it?

That day I gained knowledge of a global issue. I am now acquainted with the facts of this truth: 27 million people TODAY are enslaved, with the average age being 14 but as low as 4, and every 30 seconds brings another victim. Its hard to believe that our country went to war over this issue over a century ago, but there are more slaves today then there ever has been! "One hundred forty-three years after passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and 60 years after Article 4 of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights banned slavery and the slave trade worldwide, there are more slaves [today] than at any time in human history.." (greenchange.com) Knowledge.......its haunting.

My God beckons me to wisdom and understanding. He directs me to get them! So whats the difference? Wisdom is knowledge, but its much more. It knows what to do with that knowledge - it takes the knowledge, applies a just judgment to it as to know what action to take. Understanding applies discernment - it too knows how to correctly handle knowledge. So without these two forces, knowledge is just...facts...information...completely void of power.

For the next 6 weeks, the four of us, a Missions Director, a Speaker, a Nonprofit Leader, and me - a Women's Ministry Director, will be praying into heaven seeking wisdom and understanding. Our goal is not only to raise awareness for our community on this injustice, but to reach for discernement on how to act! One of the women voiced our desire; we pray that the hearts that hear will be impacted on such a level that they are no longer comfortable being apathetic but will be moved with compassion that compels us to action. We seek more than to provide our hearers with knowledge, but to provide a path for the power of God to move through. We are not limited by who we are but are propelled forward with the wisdom of who we are in HIM!

I am not sure what the conclusion of this blog is...but I can tell you that last week I didn't know what God had in store for me today. I only know that I am seeking, I am searching for what it is He would have me invest my time in. What else could it be but something close to His heart? I desire to honor Him, my life cannot be my own and I am forced to give it away for purposes much greater than I can imagine. If God has not deposited a God-sized dream for your life, seek it, chase it, don't give up till you have it. And once you have gained that knowledge, don't give up until you have acquired wisdom and understanding that propel you into your destiny! It will not just happen, you must remain a seeker if you desire to be a world-changer in order to shine His glory over all the earth. I ask that you continue to pray into your God-sized dreams every day...who knows what God will do?

My heart weighs heavy for the 27 million, a number that would like to persuade us to remain motionless because of its daunting size. But I am the more anxious to see what God has in store! I pray for justice for every one of them.