Articles

The Fullness of God’s Wisdom and Might

In times of confusion, we have learned from Daniel that the best way to battle confusion and intimidation is through prayer.

In Daniel 2, he was faced with the dilemma of having to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams or be killed. As you can imagine, he was understandably confused. He had no idea what to do. So what did he do? He turned to God.

¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸ and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹ Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.²⁰ Daniel answered and said:

Two things about this God: He is a God of wisdom and he is a God of might. Did you see it there in verse 20?

‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.’

Why is that so important to us? Because with the first—wisdom—God dispels confusion, and with the second—might—he defuses intimidation.

What does that mean for us?

You want to fix a broken marriage?

You want to recover a stray child?

You want to overcome despair?

You want to straighten out your thinking?

You want to discover true love?

You want to eliminate loneliness?

Look at verse 23. ‘for you have given me wisdom and might.’ That’s what it means for us. He wants to give us his very own wisdom and might. That’s been God’s plan all along; to share with us his wisdom and his might. How exactly does that help us?

It gives us wisdom to solve any confusion, and power to triumph over any intimidation. We have more wisdom and power than that even possessed by Daniel, enough wisdom to dispel all confusion, enough power to defuse all intimidation; the two things that humanity has worked the hardest to eliminate.

You have the wisdom and the might to get you there. It’s wiser than anything human. It’s mightier than anything human. It’s wisdom and might from above, bigger and better than that possessed by Daniel.

How do we know? He parcels out the wisdom and might as it flows through the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ. Listen to what Paul says:

“But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” — 1 Corinthians 1:23-24

What no human could figure out, God figured out in the cross. God came up with a plan to cure all that confuses us. A plan to eliminate all that intimidates us; every struggle, every regret, every pain, and every sin. Sin—the root problem of humanity, the cause of all confusion and intimidation. On the cross, God executed his plan, paying the penalty of sin and purging the power of sin— and filling up our hearts with his wisdom and power, newness of life!

We have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. God has worked his plan, and he has made us beneficiaries. We have the wisdom to figure things out. We have the power to work things out.

Everything that confuses you, everything that intimidates you; your job, your reputation, your memories, your marriage, your hopes, your children, all of these are resolved in the cross of Christ, because the cross defeats sin and puts its solution, Christ himself, at the core of our beings.

We have now been raised with Christ, seated with Christ in the heaven places, cloaked with the ever-increasing love of God, and freely given everything we need. We are constantly becoming more than conquerors, filled with all his wisdom and might, filled up with the fullness of God.