Ice cream is beautiful. I don’t see any reason to scream for it, but I have no problem asking for it—even if I have to get a little loud. Every once in a while I just have to have something cold, creamy and beautifully calorically corrupt. The choice is never difficult. It’s got to be chocolate. But I remember when the kids were younger, sometimes the choosing was no small deal for them. There was one time in particular when Daniel was around 12, he took a good ten minutes to decide.
“Chocolate. No, vanilla. No wait, make it strawberry. Wait, chocolate. Hold on, I think I want … peanut butter. Or do I?” It made me pretty crazy. And also, peanut butter? Really?
I probably should’ve been a little more understanding. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by choices myself. I’ve gotten stuck in those automated phone “conversations,” for instance. One time it was one of those slow-talking recorded voices: “Press 1 if you know your party’s extension. Press 2 to leave a message. Press 3 to confirm your message.” Just those three took longer than it takes to get a chocolate shake in the drive-through. By then I didn’t much care about choices 4 through 9, but I was compelled to keep going.
When I finally left a message, I forgot why I was calling. I sounded like a total psycho. I needed a choice more like “Press this button if you’ve just made a complete idiot of yourself.” Or how about “Hey, press whatever you want to forget the whole thing and go get ice cream.”
When it comes to the non-chocolate, no-button issues of life, I want to make the wisest choices. Wise choices are godly choices. My heart’s prayer is very like what Paul prayed for the Ephesians in chapter 1, verses 17-19, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.”
According to that passage, being wise and knowing our God better go together. And the more we know Him, the more hope we have and the more we understand those things that are ours in Christ. What power!
We can know Him better by being even more passionate about drinking in His Word than we are about anything cool or creamy. Nothing compares with the wisdom and enlightenment we find in the Bible. Prov. 8:10-11 says, “Accept my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and nothing desirable can compare with it.”
I’m also thrilled to be able to tell you that you can pick up God’s Word—choose his instruction—any time. It’s good. It’s sweet. It’s healthy. And it will never stick to the roof of your mouth.