She travelled 7 years?? 😯

…was reading John chapter 3 this morning. I think even if we were to read just this chapter all through our lives, we would still not have come to the end of comprehending this in totality. That is true of every scripture in the Word, but for some reason I felt it more true for John 3, this morning. 🙂

It records the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus, a teacher of the law. Many of the foundational scriptures for the New Covenant, is found in this chapter. “Unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God”, or “For God so loved the World, that He gave His only begotten Son..” and several more.

The first question that arose in my mind as I read the chapter was, “Where did Jesus get this Wisdom/Understanding from?” The simple answer of course is ‘God, His Father’. But there is more to it than meets the eye.

Jesus began His ministry when He was 30. So almost all of the red letters we see in the New Testament were the words He spoke while He was in ministry. But if you watch carefully, most of these words were not something that he spoke in the spur of the moment, but they were words which he carefully learned from God while ‘growing up’, when He communed with His Father day after day!!!

When Jesus was 12, He asked questions to the teachers of the day, which blew them away noting the depth of His wisdom. I wouldn’t be stretching it by any measure if I said that Jesus, even when he was as young as 12, rose up early, sought God diligently, and received His Wisdom and Understanding from God. As a result, here is what the teachers of the Law said, (when Jesus was just 12):

“Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers” Luke 2:47

When we talk of wisdom, who in the Bible would come to our mind first? Solomon right? The Bible describes that the Queen of Sheba travelled several thousand miles (in a time when the mode of transport was perhaps a camel or a horse) ‘simply’ to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. Historians say that it must have taken an average of 3-7 years for her to reach Jerusalem. An incredible woman, she must have been, who was HUNGRY for wisdom!

What was the difference between Jesus’ wisdom and Solomon’s wisdom? Here’s what I believe it is.

Solomon’s wisdom was a Gift. God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he wanted. Solomon asked for Wisdom and God GAVE it to him. While Jesus’ wisdom came forth from a relationship with His Father on a day to day basis. The scriptures say it best.

“Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature.” Luke 2:52.

Little by little, one day at a time, step by step, in every way being made like YOU and like ME, Jesus had to ‘grow’ in wisdom.

Not all of us may have a dream one night and God appear by our bedside to miraculously pour wisdom into our dull hearts! But every one of us, have an incredible opportunity to ‘grow’ in Wisdom, one day at a time!

Talking of Himself, Jesus said, “Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.” Matthew 12:42

Greater, Yes! Not only because He was the Son of God, who was Worthy of all Glory and Honor!! But Greater, because He had a ‘relationship’ with His Father.

Nowhere in the scriptures we read that Solomon had a ‘relationship’ with God. On the contrary we read that although bestowed with Wisdom unlike any of His predecessors, toward the end of Solomon’s life, he slowly slipped away into deception.

Being gifted means NOTHING, if we don’t have a relationship with the giver of every good gift!