Lessons Learned

Have you ever considered just how wise you truly are? I’m serious. You have within you a wisdom which is staggering on many levels. Unfortunately, rarely do we ever take time to consider what we know and just how we came to obtain this storehouse of wisdom.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. (Pro 4:7)

I will submit that most, if not all of us, ignore the principle behind this injunction. Wisdom and understanding are a lifestyle. Sure, I know that this is something you might expect a teacher, like myself, to say to a pupil, however, the alternative, stupidity and ignorance, is also a lifestyle few, if any, want to follow. It seems most of us walk a very thin line between both worlds of wisdom and ignorance and feel right at home doing so. Therefore, for a brief moment, let’s focus on your wisdom.

Take a moment to consider all that you’ve been through in this life, the ups and downs, the ins and outs. When you look back on all the lessons you’ve learned, the wisdom these teachings have instilled within you, can you recall and describe what the environment surrounding you was like?

Let me put it another way: Did you gain your wisdom when all hell was coming down around your head, or while you were relaxing on some beach while enjoying your vacation? When the shit hits the fan, the first lesson you learn is to duck! Thereafter, wisdom is recognizing the two components which make for a game of duck, duck, goose.

Suffering. We dread the mere mention of the word. Some of us even wince at the mere thought of it. Humans create it and endure it. It seems almost a part of our nature as occupants of this planet. The degree to which we are inflicted with it, from a stubbed toe, to rape, molestation and dismemberment, is enormous in trying to comprehend. No two individuals encounter suffering in the same predetermined fashion. To some people, not getting the right color of a scarf as a gift has the same affect to them as if they were being led to a gas chamber in a death camp. Suffering, however it comes, is our greatest advocate for learning and the wisdom it produces. It is our greatest teacher!

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. (Luk 2:40)

This verse is describing the nature of Jesus as he grew into an adult. “…filled with wisdom…” Did he come with this already impart to him? Did he, like you and me, need to experience suffering in order to be filled with wisdom?

There is the passage from the writings of Isaiah which is commonly known as the suffering servant (Isa 53), which Christians have since the beginning of the church age attributed as a prophetic rendering of the last moments of the life of Jesus. What does this passage teach us about the lessons of suffering? How do these lessons apply to a God who we’ve always thought to be all-knowing?

Let me make a very bold claim which I know will turn many of you away. When you die and go to heaven, school is over. There is no more suffering in heaven. There are no more lessons to learn without suffering. Honestly, why do you think Jesus, as God, came to earth? What couldn’t he learn in heaven he could only experience in his creation? I’m not trying to be crass but consider the lessons which a creation from a of Roman rape to a young Jewish girl* would imprint upon a social bastard for the life of someone who thought themselves to be the first begotten son of the Most High God. The phrase, “How in heaven’s name could anyone endure this?” misses the lesson suffering engenders which heaven could not teach. Ultimately, death becomes the final lesson, the final impartation to a cavalcade of wisdom moments.

“Life sucks and then you die” is a bumper sticker I saw one day. I agree with it, but it could also say, “Wisdom first, then you graduate.” Suffering, in whatever form it apprehends you, sucks. Sometimes you get through it, other times you don’t. The lesson, the wisdom is always there. Always. Don’t miss it the first time around or you’re going to face it again, guaranteed.

What lesson is on your plate today?

(*) According to the writings of Celsus, one of the opponents to the Christian narrative, this was a common understanding among the Jewish community regarding the conception and birth of Jesus.