Where should Christians look for wisdom and guidance?

The present political environment has spawned a level of vitriol and hatred that long has been hidden under the guise of politeness, decorum and once-common unspoken rules of protocol.

However, the sensationalizing of “gotcha journalism” and the less-principled medium of social media has soiled the public sphere.

People who once held their thoughts close and closed in their minds now have the license to release the less-flattering sentiments in an echo chamber that composes a mixture of less-than-intelligent preconceived notions about anything and anybody.

Rather than rational thoughts, one is left to their own imagination to unscramble public discourse they do not know or seek to understand.

It makes for a toxic political environment that leaves a lot to be desired and little to be accomplished.

Where should the Christian look for wisdom and guidance in the midst of this?

When guidance can’t be found

There was a time when most Americans would point to a person of influence as the point of contact.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves living in a time when, more often than not, clergy are struck now with the stress of attempting to determine the parishioner’s ideological leanings. In many cases, a good straight answer no longer is offered, because the clergy works hard to avoid offending people, rather than guiding them toward spiritual wholeness.

Usually, the person seeking wisdom and guidance is overwhelmed with frustration, because they tend not to receive what their inquiring mind desires. As a result, the clergy is not always the most reliable source, especially in this age of separating the ideologically normative sheep from the goats.

Our institutions that once were bastions of thought known as safe grounds for debate and free thinking no longer widely exist but in isolated corners of now-abandoned intellectual spaces.

When humanity fails us, and institutions fail us, we can always go to the Bible.

God’s word guides

The word of God is what we need when we are seeking wisdom. It long has been the belief and understanding of traditional Baptists that God’s word—Scripture—is essential for understanding the strategies needed to navigate life’s challenges.

As far back as the 1800s, Baptists have been guided by the “Articles of Faith” to believe “the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore, is and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions should be tried.”

That belief in the inspired word of God encourages and emboldens the servant to participate and thrive in life.

Guided by Psalms

Psalm 119:97–105 is one of the most-noted verses of Scripture that magnifies this thought:

“Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (ESV).

The psalmist expresses the level of intense satisfaction one engenders with the level of confidence and security one experiences when keeping the commands of God. The psalmist speaks of a level of clarity and conviction that can be recognized only by an individual who has been in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The reader can feel the spirit of fulfillment that comes from encountering the divine counsel that reverberates internally at the whispering tones of enunciating the words.

God’s word speaks to every aspect of our lives and pushes the weary warrior forward. It is his word that empowers us and inspires us.

Spurred by God’s word

How can the Christian not aspire toward the greater good when he or she reads Romans 8:31-32?

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

Who can dare not be conscripted into right action when dealing with matters of politics and social justice when God speaks through Micah 6:6-8?

“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

In these times, when we must block out the confused noise of less-than-intelligent and uninspired rhetoric, we must find our inspiration in the word of God.

In the words of the late song writer Glenn Burleigh: “It is God’s word that saves sinners, reclaims backsliders, and encourages believers.”

Let us never forget where the power behind our purpose exists.

Rev. Dr. Michael Evans Sr. is the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield and past president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.