Monday, May 30, 2011

The Answer Is Closer Than You Think

"Wisdom is in the sight of him who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth." Proverbs 17:24 (NKJV)

Everyone one of us will face difficulties in life and have questions that we need answers to. Often we find ourselves in a situation where we need wisdom to know what we should do and how we should do it. The problem comes when we look for the answers in the wrong place. As Christians we have two wonderful resources for answers in our time of trouble, God's Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Over the years as I have talked with people who are going through something where they are at a loss about what to do or they are seeking counsel about something in their life I refer them back to the Bible, God's Word. What has been surprising to me is how often those same people almost seem disappointed that I don't have something different for them. Many times the answers to the questions we have are much closer than we think and because we fail to realize this we look in all the wrong places for our answers.

In 1 Kings 19 there is a story about how God talked to Elijah when Elijah faced a bad situation. Elijah was on a mountain looking for an answer from God and there was a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire that came but the Bible tells us that God was not in those things. Then, after all of these spectacular things happened, there was a still, small voice that was God speaking to Elijah. I use this story to show how when we look for answers and we focus on some outward spectacular thing, waiting for writing in the sky, an angelic visitation, or some voice from heaven we miss the answers that God has already given us in His Word.

Not only that, but as the Bible says in Romans 8:14, the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. Then we can add 1 Corinthians 3:16 where it says that the Holy Spirit is living in us. Rather than being foolish and looking everywhere else for the answers to the questions we have we need to start with the simple truth of God's Word, allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us through it, and let the Holy Spirit lead us and direct us. Finding the answer is a lot easier than we think because the answers are often closer than we think!