A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, The Way of the Warrior (p. 29). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Oh, we need wisdom, don’t we?
Erwin says, “It cannot be purchased or easily gained. You may overpower an enemy and yet still die a fool. While there are many expressions of wisdom, for our purposes it will be defined as the ability to bring peace. When the warrior is wise, they fight only for peace. The proof of their victory is that they have created a world where what is good and beautiful and true prevails. The fool is the enemy of wisdom. The fool is driven by greed and power and violence. The fool uses their weapons to harm, injure, and destroy. The warrior wields a weapon only to defend, protect, and liberate.
“The warrior does not wield a weapon; they are a weapon. Their strength does not come from the weapons they hold but from the wisdom that has taken hold of them. The novice believes that their power lies in being seen; the warrior understands they are most powerful when they are unseen. The way of the warrior is not a path toward war but a path toward wisdom. The warrior knows they have not learned everything but that they know everything they need to learn.”
He goes on, “Wisdom is the warrior’s greatest weapon. When you have wisdom, you are never unarmed, you are never defenseless, and you are never powerless. You need skill to know how to shoot an arrow straight, but only wisdom can teach you how to never need to shoot it. Wisdom is not the result of having learned enough; it comes when you know there is never enough learning.
“Wisdom is less like a deep ocean and more like the force of a river. The power of the river is in its ability to adapt to its environment, change its course when necessary, and yet always find its way toward its destiny. The river reminds us that it is not always the straight path that leads us to where we must go. The meandering of a river might cause you to think that it has lost its intention, yet the river, as wide as it may bend and as often as it may change its course, always moves forward toward its intended destination.”
He then says, “The warrior is like a river, with fluid and adaptive moves. The warrior is not rigid or unchanging. The warrior is not like a stone that cannot be broken but like water that even when cut in two cannot be divided. It is not a weapon that makes you a warrior—it is your wisdom.”
James over in his letter in the Bible says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” (James 1:5 NLT). Why not ask this generous God today. That seems to be a great place to start, isn’t it?
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