Every Voice in Every Nation

I really dont have a good reason to be up @ nearly 3 in the morning and I have yardwork to do tommorrow. I essentially had a really long post all typed up, but I lost it somehow. But that's a good thing because there was only one thing that has been sitting on my mind I wanted to discuss with yall and that is just it; the mind.

Take a gander that the wording of the NIV provides in this passage from Deuteronomy 29:2-15:

"Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:
Your eyes have seen all that the LORD
did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. With your
own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great
wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands
or eyes that see or ears that hear."

It is interesting that it uses the word "mind" here. We associate faith so much with emotional and spiritual temperments but how much have we rationalized our experience as Christians? I write this not to inspire doubt or anything, but rather to strengthen to what we have as faith; because I have been convicted about how little I actually love God with all my heart and my mind.
You ever wonder how some of the church fathers could write volumes and volumes on theological issues? Granted, they may have been gifted in that, but their faith was as much an intellectual endeavor as it was a spiritual one. I dont think we all have to be Augustines or Thomas Aquinas' or Issaac Newtons in order to be both Christians and intellectuals. Hower, I write this more towards a practical end, so that like Brianne was blogging about earlier, we would have an ingrained wisdom. I feel that most of the dilemmas I go through, while I do invoke the Lord's help, are made bigger deals because of the lack of wisdom, which ties into our walk with God. Remember in proverbs that it is "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom" and it is the fool who says in his heart that "there is no God."
We already are on the right path merely by believing, but the bible would not put it that way because it states plainly that anyone that merely exists has to reckon with the existence of God, the evidence out there is too plain. While I wish I could point you exactly to scriptures that would highlight this, i cannot, which is sort of my case in point. Not to beat myself up, but my knowledge of God's word and being able to reference why and in what I believe go back to that scripture about "alwasy be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have."
Just recently I had an experience in which I essentially argued for the existence of God with two friends based mainly on the natural evidence. While the discussion was tilted to the already more scientfic aspect, I of course felt that I could have done better from a self-centered standpoint but also realized that this is what we are called to do and having the Truth closer to our lips can guide one along to the path of salvation. Not to say that reasoning is everything, those argued into something can be argued out, salvation needs to be worked out with fear and trembling between them and God. However, how much sweeter would it be to have the Wisdom of God more firmly ingrained in you? Think about the many times David said to God that he loves His law and meditates on it day and night. I'm glad everything in the bible is not boring and rote to me, and I hope to be sin inquirign as to actually lookup the scripture my pastors preach from.
The bible is full of exhortations on the value of Wisdom, and applying a careful study to God's word. Frome that same place in Deutoronomy it concludes with the promise "Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do." I believe that this is legit to the degree that we invest in it, like King David. It will profit us much to see how our knowledge of God is making differences in our lives, but the level to which we invest in it is key. Like it says in 2 Corinthians 9:6:- "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
And of course I should have been reading my bible or doing a devotion for the past 5 or so hours instead of being on youtube. I wont try to rationalize that, it rather points to there being a time for everything and 3:30 in the morning is not definitely not a proper one for anything but sleep.
Ach, the gospel reading for today is a very profound one and I encourage you to take a gander. It is Luke 18:15-30 Look and see if you are the one recieving the Kingdom of Heaven (and God's wisdom) as a child. Coming to God in humility and humbleness, knowing He loves you, is your parent, and will impart His wisdom and other blessings upon you, or will you go to him like the rich young ruler - (the way I frequently go) saying all the while that you have everything covered and you pretty much want God to give you an rubber stamp of approval? Let God see the one thing that you lack, that you struggle to let go of, and I pray that you and I can release that so that we can be free and follow the wisest counsel available.