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Now let's jump in. Everybody wants to know that when the pressure is on and the decision is on your shoulders, you're going to make the right one. But if God doesn't write the answer in the sky, how do I know which decision is the right one? Figuring out how to make that decision coming up right now on the Clear Vee Today Show. Ooh.
You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Studio.
We are so glad you're joining us again for today's conversation with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. If you're tuning in for the very first time today, we want to say welcome, let you know exactly who's talking to you. Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr.
Shah. Another episode on the books. Yes, and I'm looking forward to this one because it's going to help us understand how to make decisions in the midst of trials. That's right. That's right.
You know, we were talking about this through the book of James, talking about, you know, when you encounter trials, which is a very relatable verse, not if, not, you know, just in case trials come up in your life. Just if this ever happens, this is what happens. Only off chance that you're going to encounter trials. No, no, when. You encounter trials.
That's a four-letter word. That's right. That's right. That's right. But, you know, some people could look at it and say, you know, I just need to sit back and just be joyful.
Just put on a happy face and then just kind of have a positive outlook on everything. Other people might say, you know, I mean, it is what it is. What's going to happen? Kesaras, Ra. But James doesn't say either of those things.
Right.
Well, in our last show, we learned that trials are inevitable, unpredictable, and variable. I mean, that's the bottom line. Inevitable means they're coming, whether you want it or not. They are unpredictable. They don't come with a warning.
And they are variable. It means they come in different forms.
Sometimes physical problems, sometimes financial troubles, relationship problems. I mean, and then things you don't even think about, they become trials.
So in the midst of all of this, the greatest need you and I have is to keep our heads, to make sure that we make the wise decisions. That's where people fall apart. Yeah. They make the wrong decisions or unwise decisions, and before you know it, something that could have. Been used by God to work things together for good.
Now it's messy, it's complicated. Yeah, that's great advice because I feel like a lot of us don't even realize that trials bring decisions. You know what I mean? It's like a lot of times I think Christians feel like, okay, I'm going through a trial. I got to grit my teeth and get through this.
And I'll just pray for resilience. I'll pray for endurance and patience and all that good stuff we talked about last week. But we never pray for wisdom because we don't think we have to actually do anything with that trial. Yeah, I just have to passively kind of survive through it to get to the other side. But there's a part that we play in following God's command, being obedient to God in the face of trials.
Why does every trial necessarily bring a decision, Dr. Shaw? I mean, that's a great question because that's just how God has designed us. Either we can choose God. Or we can choose not to follow God.
Either we can choose to do things in a way that glorifies Him, or we can choose things to satisfy ourselves in the moment.
So either you can choose temporary satisfaction. or a fix or you can have eternal you know, blessing. And and I'd rather go for the eternal blessing even though the temporary fix is so tempting. I just want this thing to be over. What tell me what I need to do so I can just get this over with.
I just need money, whatever I need to do. I need relationship Whatever it takes, I'm just going to get it done. But this is not going to help you in the long run. I know, I'll be okay. I'm not concerned about the long run.
I need to survive the short run. Yeah, let me get through this right now. I just need this pressure to go away. I just need this pain to stop. And that's where we need God's wisdom.
Yeah. Yeah. And so James talks about that here. He in James chapter 1, verse 2 through 5. He says, My brethren, counted all joy when you fall into various trials.
Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We focused on this in the past really three episodes. But now we come to if any of you lacks wisdom, There's a sarcasm. In that statement.
Because of course, y'all lack wisdom. You need wisdom. But does anybody need wisdom? That's what he's saying. Yeah.
Anybody. Anybody out there.
Now let's Go back and think about what wisdom is really about. Because we often confuse wisdom with knowledge. Right.
And they may be related, but they're not the same things. It's like G.I. Joe. It's the one thing G.I. Joe got wrong, the more you know, right?
But that's not wisdom. No, not G.I. Joe. That was. Knowing is half the battle.
Knowing exactly the battle. What was the more you know? That was a thing. The more you know, it was a little star that came up. Y'all remember that?
That was like a PBS. I can't remember. I've botched the whole thing. I remember seeing it. The more you know.
I've botched the whole joke. But G.I. Joe was knowing half the battle. Dr. Chubb, please take it away.
I've botched the joke. If we were playing soccer, you would kick the ball outside into run all the way out there. Into a little old lady's face in the stand. And like chasing it down. He's like, go ahead and score the goal.
I got an instant red card.
So, what is knowledge? Knowledge comes from information. Information that is found on television, magazines, you name it, popular books. This is knowledge. You sit there and you watch Jeopardy, and you can get a lot of.
Knowledge, information coming out. Who made this movie? Who wrote that book? Who won the World Series in what whatever year? This this is a lot of knowledge.
And knowledge is not always bad. It has some benefits to it. And it's more than just magazines and popular T V shows. But wisdom Is in a class of its own. Warren Weirsby, you know, he's written many commentaries, the B-Series commentaries.
He. described it uh this way. He says, Someone has said that knowledge is the ability to take things apart. While wisdom is the ability to put them back together. Amen.
I like that.
Now, yeah, if somebody is going to get really technical, it seems like he just described knowledge twice. But no, he's talking not just about taking a A pen apart and putting it back together. He's talking about life. It's easy to tear down a relationship. It requires a lot of wisdom.
to build it back up. I know y you know, I think that's the perfect that's the perfect uh s Illustration for that, because I know that you've said a lot of times that as the more time you spend around academics, the more you start to realize how intelligent and how knowledgeable some of these guys are and how utterly foolish in life they can be. You know what I mean? Like there are some academics out there who just seem to, I mean, and No uncertain terms, just lack common sense. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Just can't manage their life or their finances. You've used the example before of like a neurosurgeon who has a lot of knowledge. I mean, incredible skill study, years and years of school, but Has trouble in relationships. Yeah.
Doesn't know how to be a good husband. That's right. She doesn't know how to be a good parent. I mean, and they are. You know, they are neurosurgeons.
Making a spacecraft, but they don't understand these basic principles of life. And it's much more than just common sense. I do understand what you said, that sometimes very smart people lack common sense. But life is more than common sense. It's about wisdom in life.
It's about having the right priorities. It's about choosing to do what is right when you have a bunch of options and nobody's watching. That's wisdom. Yeah. Something else about knowledge.
Knowledge comes from, of course, education, schools, universities, colleges. I mean, I've been in higher education for quite some time. It can come from the hard knocks of life. Isn't it funny? Because that's the one we typically like to brag about.
And we say that's wisdom. No, no, no. That's knowledge. Yeah. Yeah.
Knowledge. Yeah. Because, yeah, you can go through a horrible relationship and walk away saying it's like, never, man. You know, that kind of a guy, you just don't want him. Or that kind of a girl, you just don't want them in your life.
Okay. You learned it from A lot of pain and suffering, and it sort of borderlines on knowledge and wisdom, but it's not really. True wisdom. Yeah. I remember like when I was in school, about to graduate, I really wasn't feeling college.
And my dad was like, son, make sure you go to school. I don't want you to have to work manual labor for the rest of your life like me.
Now, imagine I didn't do it. And I was like, no, I'm not going to listen to my dad. And I go through this and now I'm 40, my 50s, 60s, saying the same thing. Like, man, I had to learn the hard way. I wasn't wise.
It means every step of the way, you try to go through a wall. Yeah. These are not just obstacles in life. You just. Or too bullheaded or you know, just stubborn, and you just walk through walls and you get bruised and beat up and bleeding everywhere, and you think, oh, that see the wisdom, see the hardness.
What what if wisdom is the insight Into our human circumstances and situations that enable us to make the right decision, the insight. You need somebody on the inside to give you the insight. And it doesn't just come. It doesn't come by just reading a lot of books or having the experience. It is much more than that.
Yeah. One more distinction between knowledge and wisdom is that knowledge comes from success. How to climb the ladder If success was wisdom, then The actors and actresses. And the big business men and women Should be the wisest people in the world. Say it one more time for the people in the back.
Y'all cut the volume up real quick because y'all need to hear that one. If success was wisdom, than some of the successful people, whether they are actors, Hollywood stars, politicians, business people, man, they have they haven't made. They have really earned a lot of money, a lot of fame, a lot of power. They should be the best at life. Almost the exact opposite.
Yeah. Look at the headlines for 30 seconds and tell me that that's true. You can't. Mm-hmm. Wisdom is different.
Wisdom is what you need when you are tired of the self-help books, when it comes to raising children, changing bad habits, achieving things that are eternal. That's wisdom. Wisdom is what you need when you cannot throw money at your problems. And that's why people will come to me and say, hey, I just need to sit down and talk to you. And It's very humbling, intimidating, and You know, scary, I would say, downright scary to sit there and talk to people like that because what they're really asking for is wisdom.
Yeah. And sometimes I'm like I don't know what to say to you.
Okay, go ahead.
Well, they'll tell me their story, and then they'll say, What do I do in this situation? And On one hand, I want to tell them what they need to do. But sometimes what I tell them, they look at it like, that's it?
So I came here to get this deep wisdom. And you give me such a simple fix? Yeah, because people think wisdom has to be this secret that nobody knows. And if I've heard what you, like, if you tell me, hey, get before God and pray and repent of your sin and seek Him, that's boring. I've heard that.
I've heard that my whole life. I do understand that, but, but. In this situation. Yeah, yeah. Right.
And there are people who can really make a very. You know, simple and profound and hard-hitting statement, or just a deep, reflective statement. And I've done that too at times, and they are good and they are true, but I can't do that every time. Yeah, right. Yeah, you know, that may not be what that person needs in that situation, or I don't have it.
Package like that. Does that mean it's not wisdom? I think reminding them, you know, to go to God, to spend time in prayer, to read the Bible, to surround yourself with godly counsel. A lot of times people will be like, well, I read the Bible and I didn't give the answer. Or I prayed and I asked God and He didn't give me an answer.
Could it be that this is a Process? Could it be that this isn't just, hey, I prayed one time and the answer didn't drop in my head? Right.
So James tells us right here, he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. You have not because you ask not. We've heard that our entire lives, but it's one of the rarest prayers, I think, that ever gets prayed. You know, we want to pray, God, if your will be done, then just work in this situation, Lord, this real vague thing. God comes in.
Hey, you just worked in this situation. Instead of saying, God, give me the wisdom to get over this. Give me the wisdom to overcome this.
So navigate through this. Yeah. Yeah. I think we, at least that I have prayed this way. I know that I have in the past.
I want God to function like a puppeteer and I'm the marionette. Like I'll go through it, but you, you move me where you want me to go. Yeah. You direct my steps and you pick up my feet and you open my mouth and you put words in my mouth and put me exactly where you want me to because I don't want to make a mistake. But God wants us to go and act.
God wants us to go. He wants us to choose. Yes. Yeah. And we also, I think a lot of Christians want the God's story.
You know what I mean? Like, listen, I prayed to God. There was no way. Lord, sent me a sign. There was no way this problem could have been solved.
That had to have been God. That's the story we want to tell people rather than God gave me the wisdom and by faith I overcame that obstacle because of him. But even we don't want to tell that story. Even that, though, is a God's story because of the way you said God gave me the wisdom to do this. This wasn't me.
I didn't navigate this because of my shrewdness or my intellect or my experience. No, God gave me the wisdom to make this call. Much of wisdom is, I would say, 99.9% of that wisdom is simply coming by praying to God and God bringing the right person in your life who tells you something or a message or a song in the worship service or a conversation with a godly person, maybe a mentor, but maybe just a colleague. Who really loves Jesus Christ? And in that conversation, something grips you and you go, Yeah, that's what I should have done to begin with.
And that's how God works.
So, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. The bottom line is: the source of wisdom is God. Amen. Think about Solomon. was the wisest man who ever lived.
But I don't know what he was prior to that. I think he was an average guy. He was just a guy. He was just a fellow. And then when his father.
Passed on the throne to him, the crown to him.
Solomon takes the throne, and his first prayer he says is, Now, O Lord, talking about First Kings chapter three, seven through nine, now, O Lord, my God, you have made your servant He's talking about himself. You have made your servant king instead of my father David. But I'm a little child.
So much humility there. Yeah. I'm just a kid. Think about that. He's going to rule.
All the twelve tribes of Israel This powerful kingdom that has been promised to bring the eternal king. It's through the line of Judah, his family tree, but his tribe, but he's going to be the king of this powerful nation. And his response is. I'm just a kid. And then he says, I do not know how to go out or come in.
Wow. Wow. Yeah. I I d I don't know how to walk. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.
Therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil. Did you ever feel like that when you started ministry? Like when you first started when you were young? Yeah. So.
When I was. In seminary the first semester, first couple of weeks.
So keep in mind. I grew up in a Christian home. I Had a good upbringing, great education, good church. Dad was a pastor, you know, deep messages, powerful messages, evangelistic messages. I mean, it was great.
I was very studious. But then, when I came here, I sort of lost my focus. I lost my equilibrium, kind of my bearings.
So I began to sort of just. Just kind of waver through life. first couple of years things happened in my life that threw me off. And so I was I was not a bad person. I didn't get into any addiction or started drinking or smoking or doing crazy.
None of that. But it was just aimlessly wandering. just existing. It's very hard for me to even imagine myself back in those days what it must have looked like. But I've tried over the years like, what did I look like?
Just going through life. Yeah. You know? And just wondering what happened to me. Here I was a very important person in my class, a leader in my class, in my church, among the youth.
And then all of a sudden I am things happen and then I'm just just there in the back of the room watching the show. And were you aware of it at the time? Or was it I knew I knew something had gone wrong. And I felt like I had done something wrong. But now, looking back, things had happened that had thrown me off.
And I felt Just Clueless for the first time. I didn't know where life was headed. for the first time I felt Just very insignificant. And I saw everybody else, like, they know what they're doing. They know what they're doing, they know what they're doing.
Some were probably worse than I was, but most of them were just. Pretty set on their life. And so, in this season of my life, I was just. going along and then of course There was a turn in my life. You heard me, you know, going to NRB was part of that turn.
And I began to seek God and follow God. And that that's about the time I met Nicole, and then through her I met her dad, and he made a big impact on my life. And I began to go to church with Nicole, and then she and I got married, and then God called me in the ministry, and and this is like a from all of a sudden imagine just drifting in a ship that has lost its compass and the engine has shut down and it's just bobbing up and down the ocean. All of a sudden the engine comes on and you're like you're like moving and you're turning and you all of a sudden you see the ship moving in in the right direction. And then Quickly I began to try to play catch up.
I'm like, okay, if I'm going to the ministry, then I need I need to study. And I began to take classes. All my electives are filled up with Ministry-related classes. But it was sort of odd because. I hadn't started that way.
And then all of a sudden I'm sitting in class with people who are going in ministry. And they're looking at me like, what are you doing here? I'm going to the middle. I'm going to you.
Well, w what what what's your major? Broadcast journalism.
Okay. And you're taking preaching? Like yeah. I'm taking preaching. And so.
Anyways, and then I come to seminary, this is nineteen ninety six. And I've always been studious. I always love to study and and very systematic and those kind of things. But then the first week or two in class, I see people Responding to the professor taking notes Asking questions, and I'm like, I got all my stuff right. But I am not clued in here.
Something is missing.
So I used to pray to God, give me wisdom. I don't have wisdom. I can retain knowledge and I can. you know Retrieve that knowledge and put it down on paper in my quizzes, in my exams, in my papers, but I can't. Seem to have that sense of wisdom.
Was it a mystery to you knowing that I know I'm a studious person, I know that I excel in academics, this cluelessness that I'm feeling like before you came to that. That realization, I need to pray for wisdom. Was it confusing for you? Like, why am I not getting this? Why am I not with it?
Yeah. What is wrong? Was there something that made you realize, oh, what I'm lacking is wisdom? Yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely. And so I believe it was the Holy Spirit of God who was telling me that.
What you need to pray for is wisdom. Because I could have prayed for anything. I could have prayed for. More ambition, more direction. Maybe direction falls into wisdom, so take that back.
Maybe some right connection. I could have prayed, God, give me the right connection, put me in front of the right people so I can make the right friendships, so I can climb the ladder. I didn't have that. It was always wisdom. At the time, always wisdom.
Pray for wisdom. And I used to pray for wisdom. Wow. God, give me wisdom. If you don't give me wisdom, Nothing's going to happen in my life.
I won't amount to anything. I need your wisdom in my life. Prayed, prayed, prayed. And guess what? It's not like all of a sudden the heavens opened and wisdom dropped on me from the sky.
But little by little I began to get it. And he said, what did you get? I began to understand what I did not understand. And it was much more than the answers for my quizzes. And for the exam.
I began to understand life. and what I didn't know about life. I began to understand God and realize at the same time how much I did not know about God. I began to realize that I had a foundation that was biblically based because of my dad, my mom, my family. And I also realized at the same time how far away I was from that foundation.
So instead of someone praying that prayer themselves, suppose they're listening to this show today and they're saying, well, tell me. Tell me what to understand. Give me the answer. How do I get wisdom? He gave you the answer.
You give it to me. How else are you? How do you say, pray to God? Stop looking for shortcuts. Pray to God.
And I'm so happy that I was born when I was born. Not that anybody's wrong for being born today, but back in those days there was no social media like we have today and internet like we have today.
So. There was no temptation. Let me Google this. Yeah, no generative AI response to give you some false. How do I find wisdom?
Yeah, like it's not bad enough. Wisdom is an interesting concept. Here's three to five ways that you can. It's crazy to say, but it's like I remember back in the day, you had to actually go to Chat GPT to get all your cheating answers.
Now it's just, you just, it's in Google. Yeah, I mean it's um Thank God that I was coming up when I did because it was simply. Asking God and praying. And then God did not just lump some drop wisdom on me from the heavens, but little by little it began to come. And I began to realize I thought was wisdom, was not.
Some people pretended to have wisdom. But they really didn't.
So a lot of clarifications and Chipping away and refining that happened in my life. And trials came, and problems came, and my own sin nature would get into the way. My own selfishness and old behaviors, you know, God began to work on them because that's all part of getting wisdom.
So if you ask for wisdom, don't think all of a sudden you're getting all these amazing golden principles that will make you a winner. No, you'll also deal with the sin that so easily besets us. You'll be convicted of that sin. You will learn to repent of that sin. There's a reason why this discussion on wisdom and the previous discussions on trials go hand in hand.
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Yeah. So helpful for us to understand how wisdom is born out of trials and how it leads us to that point where we have to make a decision.
And wisdom, you said this before, Dr. Shaw, wisdom is not this substance that we can find. It's not this gift that we unwrap. Wisdom is a person. That's right.
Absolutely. It's a person of Jesus Christ. That's right. So in those moments when I was praying those prayers. I remember going to work and as I'm going about in the warehouse, I worked in different places.
I worked in laying down Cat Fives. This is when the Cat Fives are first coming. I was on one of the crews doing that. And then I began to work at a warehouse, electrical warehouse, and so doing, you know, putting boxes in, boxes out, preparing a pallet to be shipped out or sent away. My prayer the whole time, either was God, help me to remember that quiz, but also give me wisdom in life.
That's right. Coming home, staying up late, going to bed, you know, God give me wisdom. Waking up in the morning, headed to my first class of the day. God give me wisdom. But in all of that, it was: Lord, make me more like Christ.
Let the life of Jesus, of Christ. Be real in me. That's right. All was based and centered upon the person, not just an idea. Amen.
That's right. Guys, make sure you join us next time. Same time, same place. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to all of our sponsors for making today's episode possible.
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Couple of things we do want to leave you with before we head on out for the day. Number one is we got a brand new show. It's actually been out for a little bit now, but it's getting great reviews on iTunes. It's called How to Read Biblical Hebrew with Dr. Abadan Shah.
So every single week we're putting out new episodes: vocab, grammar, punctuation, Hebrew alphabet. You're going to start at the very beginning. But our promise to you is this: if you stick with this program that Dr. Shah is leading, it's a video podcast. And if you stick with it, you will be reading the Old Testament in its original language, at least on a rudimentary level, by the end of this first volume.
So make sure you check that out. Also, big, big apologetics conference is happening right here at Clearview Church, March the 28th in Henderson, North Carolina. Tickets are still on sale right now. You can get them at the link in the description. Just click on that link that says conference registration.
And if you use our promo code today, T-O-D-A-Y, we're going to give you 20% off at checkout. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on ClearB today.
