Some of my most memorable vacations have been when God has led us to a stream of water or a rushing river. One such time, I recall sleeping at night with the windows open in the mountains of North Carolina, and hearing the rapids while resting at night, and in the morning with peace and refreshment.
Proverbs 1:5 says, “A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.”
Part of God’s glory includes God’s wisdom; this we must not forget. Christ Himself is called the wisdom and power of God. God is the only living and true God, the all-knowing, all glorious, almighty sovereign Creator and Lord of the entire universe. He is perfect, and holy, infinite, eternal, and unchanging, which includes his wisdom.
Paul closes his doctrinal book of Romans with these words:
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 16:25-27)
The question as to how God establishes us is directly answered in Paul’s mind according to God’s glorious wisdom. He makes known wisdom and leads in wisdom, and thereby must establish us in this same wisdom.
When we peer into the end of time we find the Lamb being a refreshing guide to the “springs of the waters of life” (Rev. 7:17). God’s people are in every sense guided by Him. Psalm 23:1-2 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet [literally: waters of rest].”
These are the same waters that Jesus referred the Samaritan women to in John 4:14.
“…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water spring up to eternal life.”
The woman has the appropriate response to this announcement of the availability of this refreshing water:
“Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw” (John 4:19).
For the Samaritan woman, place was everything. She was taught that there was a place of worship “in this mountain” but the Jews “say in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship” (John 4:20). She was right in that if she had the water which Jesus spoke, it would eliminate the need for place.
“Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” (John 4:19 emphasis mine)
But place obviously does matter in some respect. Psalm 1:1 speaks of a blessedness that is revealed in not walking in the “counsel of the wicked.” The contrast is for those blessed ones “will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season…” (Psalm 1:3).
There is certainly more about this “wise counsel” we must learn. But for now, we must at least recognize that according to God, “counsel is Mine” (Proverbs 8:14). Wise counsel is God’s to give. If we are going to have it, He must give it—lead us to it—or lead us to Him; and the place may certainly play a part.
If you can, take a moment to recollect when you first remember believing in God. Can you remember your surroundings? The people who were there? What was being said? How about the fragrances? What time it was? Etc. ? The place was not important entirely, but you found yourself in some respect at the right place at the right time. You happened to be there, and so was the Lord. He has a habit of that coincidence. Often this is the believer’s second greatest discovery—the first being salvation, and the second that salvation is only of the Lord. What an awesome God we serve. What a wise God who leads us. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
