1 Kings 3:9 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
9 Please make me wise and teach me the difference between right and
wrong. Then I will know how to rule your people. If you don’t, there is no way
I could rule this great nation of yours.
A promise I have relied on over
and over again is the promise in James 1:5 stating that if anyone lack wisdom
he should ask God for it and it will be given him.
The La Sierra University president
encouraged us to have prayer every day in class. I had never had this habit and
felt that it was merely a formality. I have always been a firm believer in the
value of prayer. However, I felt that in order for prayer to be meaningful, it
should be prayed by someone who felt the need. One year, however, I decided to
try reading a verse and praying at the beginning of every class period.
Jonathan[2]
was one of those troublesome students. He expected everyone to bow to his
wishes. He complained to my department chair that I was taking 20 minutes for roll
call and devotions. My chair was quite upset with me and let me know that in no
uncertain terms. She was on the verge of demanding that I quit having devotions
at the beginning of class.
Breathing a prayer for wisdom, I
reminded her that the president had requested that we start class with prayer. She
backed off the demand that I not do it, of course. She didn’t tell me who the
troublemaker was, but she gave me enough details so that it was obvious
Jonathan was behind it. I also told her that I knew who had complained and that
he was one to exaggerate freely and quoted a couple examples from some
interchanges I had already had with him.
For the next couple days, I kept
track of exactly how long devotions and roll call took, and it was certainly
less than 5 minutes. But I concentrated on Jonathan in both prayer and
attention. While always quick to criticize and complain, he soon became my
strongest supporter. Although he had failed this class the quarter before, this
time he ended up with a strong B in the class.
Thank you, Lord, for Your quick response whenever we need wisdom!
[1]
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/dealing-with-employees-who-complain/
[2] Name changed to protect the student’s identity
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