"Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments...Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." (Deut.4:5-6)
We all like to look good and appear smarter than we actually are. For instance, when someone asks if I've lost weight when I wear a certain outfit, you can bet your life you'll be seeing me in that outfit a lot! And, if I relate something I've just seen or read that causes those around me to snap to attention, don't be surprised if the next group I'm with hears the same bit of information.
God, who created human nature, obviously knew of our innate desire for appreciation when He told the Israelites that if they would live by His statutes and judgments, the heathen nations around them would consider them wise. After all, the wisdom of God is so far superior than man's that 1 Corinthians 2:25 says even His foolishness is wiser than their "great" understanding. (I love that!) The longer I pour over the pages of this amazing Book, and allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate it for me, the more I am convinced that every bit of wisdom needed for life is found within it. Especially after I read what men and women have tried to offer in its place. The self-help, self-exalting books that line the shelves of bookstores are only man's feeble effort to "de-Christianize" many of the principles found in the Word of God, to make them more palatable to so-called "New-Agers" (Read: “old pagans”).
You and I, on the other hand, can assimilate the very mind of Christ (1 Cor.2:16) by reading (and accepting) His living, breathing Words. The wisdom that framed the universe and set our world in motion, may lie within your reach at this very moment. You have only to open and read. And, who knows, they may soon be saying of you, "Surely this is a wise and understanding... woman!"
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