Perfect Prudence

 

 

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word:

 

Isa 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

 

Isaiah foretells of the descending of the Holy Spirit that rested on Jesus at His baptism. The Holy Spirit who proceeds from the throne of God brings 7 “aspects” with Him. Today we will talk about the fourth “aspect,”  that of counsel.

 

The idea of counsel here is that of prudence. Imagine that! Prudence is all about timing, and the Holy Spirit brings perfect timing in the application of knowledge and wisdom. To quote that old theologian, “The Gambler,

” You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done.”

 

That’s prudence!

Being in perfect unison with the Father, Jesus often used the counsel, (prudence) of the Holy Spirit to move away from those plotting to kill Him:  Mt 12:14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him. 15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.  16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known,

 

Timing is everything. And Jesus had it, and used it perfectly. Joh 7:8 "You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."

 Understand something about this short verse in John. We know that Jesus indeed went to the feast, He just didn’t go with His brothers. “I am NOT YET going up to this feast.” The timing wasn’t quite right. Something is missed if he goes with His brothers. He needed to delay for whatever reason. That’s how perfect the prudence of the Holy Spirit is.

 

I think we could all learn to lean on Him for the application of prudence in our own lives. Sometimes something can seem so right, but our timing is off. We either get ahead of God or miss it through delay.

 

We have the gift of the Holy Spirit living inside us, and HE has given us the Book of Proverbs to help us hone  the application of prudence in our lives.

 

There’s a Proverb for every day of the month (31 of them) I urge you to read one a day and see how the Holy Spirit will use them to help shape prudence in your life.

Pr 8:12 "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion.

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word