I Corinthians 1:19
‘For it is written: “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERSTANDING, I WILL CONFOUND.”‘
God created us all with different gifts and talents. They are a blessing. He wants us to feel good about ourselves. The problem is we tend to think we are responsible for our gifts. This verse is speaking of the wisdom of the wise. They credit their intelligence to themselves. I think we all credit ourselves for our gifts before God does His work in us.
God is the author of our talents. God will bring us to places in which we learn that. Some learn from it, others don’t. When we choose to learn this we are beginning to fear God. We learn that all that we are is because of Him. This is the entry way to serving Him. If we don’t fear Him we can’t serve Him. We don’t know Him if we don’t fear Him. The bible says to fear God is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10).
When we learn to fear Him we learn some things about ourselves. We learn that we are nothing without Him. This is called being poor in Spirit (Matthew 5:3). Our gifts may make us feel rich, but we have learned that these are on loan from Him. We aren’t owners of them, but stewards. Jesus says in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
The odd thing is that when we don’t fear God we don’t realize He cofounds our wisdom. We feel normal. Romans 1:21 says, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.” The light within us gets dimmed. We aren’t able to recognize this. It’s like gaining a blind spot. We don’t see it. This person feels just as wise, but they aren’t.
The same is true for the others talents. If we don’t acknowledge they are from Him, they get diminished without our knowing. We become a fraction of ourselves.
God help us with our blindspots. Help us to see clearly and give You the credit. Help us to plug into the vine and get Your life in us. You want to do this. It’s us that gets in the way.
The Holy Spirit will convict us if we begin to credit ourselves. He is good at humbling us. We have to yield to Him and His ways.
Thank You, Lord, for the gifts You have given us. You bless us. You use us for Your glory. Help us to comply with You.