Timothy Ministries

The True Source of Wisdom

Proverbs 4:10–13
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be hindered, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. KJV

I want to give my personal testimony that those words are true. As quite a young boy, I became interested in wisdom. I became a student and finally a professor of philosophy and the word philosophy means literally “the love or the pursuit of wisdom.” But the wisdom that I pursued didn’t satisfy me. It led me finally to confusion and frustration.

Then, through God’s marvelous grace, I turned to God, the true source of wisdom, and to the Scripture, the way in which wisdom comes from God to us. And now I can look back on forty years that I’ve walked in this way and I have to say: God’s promises are true. He has led me in the way of wisdom and in right paths. When I go I am not hindered, when I run, I don’t stumble. And yet I know that I cannot afford to forsake wisdom.

The warning is: hold fast to instruction, keep on holding on. When we come to the place where we know it all, we have come to a place of real danger. After forty years of studying the Bible, I feel there’s so much more to study than when I first began. It’s like an endless ocean and I’ve just dipped my feet in the margin, but it’s all good.

—Derek Prince

Hope in God

Psalm 147:10–11
[God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. NIV

Human strength and human cleverness do not greatly impress God. We may feel ourselves so strong, so capable, but something can happen in just an instant that can rob us of all that strength and capability.

Some years ago, I was principal of a college for training teachers in east Africa. We had a number of keen athletes in that college and one day I was reminding them of the frailty of our human flesh. And I said, “You can feel so strong and so active but just let one little malaria-bearing mosquito insert its proboscis into you and within twenty-four hours you will be shaking like a leaf. You will be quivering; you will be ridden with fever; you’ll be altogether incapable of anything that’s effective. Just one little insect can change all that.” No wonder God isn’t impressed by human strength.

But God loves those who fear Him and put their hope in His unfailing love. There’s just one response of the human heart to which God reaches out, it’s the response of faith, of love and of commitment to Him. Don’t rely on your own ability, don’t rely on your own strength, they will fail you sooner or later, but put your trust in the unfailing love and faithfulness and the mercy of God. Put your hope in Him and He will not fail you.

—Derek Prince