I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. – Proverbs 8:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 22, 2016): Proverbs 8

I have to admit that sometimes I go on Facebook just to see what ridiculous thing someone has recently posted. Often I find fear mongering. It isn’t that the things are not right, although sometimes they are outright lies. But more often they are just portions of truth extended way past the limits of wisdom. Facebook is proof that often knowledge alone is dangerous. Our culture does not seem to possess the ability to take knowledge and weigh it accurately and understand how that knowledge will change our lives – or will have no real effect on the way that we live. Knowledge alone is never enough. Knowledge alone, as Facebook proves on a daily basis, is dangerous.

So recently I read a Facebook post declaring that a public school system had stated that Muslim students should be able to pray in school. The immediate outcry was that that was unfair since Christian prayer has been outlawed in secular schools for decades. On the surface, this was completely true. The post combined two things that were true; knowledge was most definitely present – but it had never been weighed. The decision was that Muslim student would be able to pray. Not that Christian students and atheist students would be forced to pray Muslim prayers. The only statute on the books against Christian prayer is a law that insists that schools not include Christian prayer in such a way that atheist or students from other religions would not be singled out or forced to pray Christian prayers. I laugh whenever I read about prayer being banned in schools. The truth is that, especially on exam days, there is probably more prayer raised in our schools than there is in church on Sunday morning. And until they develop a system of mind control, that cannot be changed or ruled illegal. God is listening to the prayers prayed by his people – no matter where those prayers might have been prayed. (I prayed all the way through my school years – and beyond.)  

Wisdom is different from knowledge. Wisdom understands the things that we know; it matches knowledge with discretion. It understands how the things of which we are aware may affect our lives. Personally, I would welcome even forced public Muslim prayer in school, although that is highly unlikely ever to happen in Western cultures. I would love to see Muslims and Christians standing together at various times during the day and answering the call to prayer – and praying to their own God’s in their own way. And I really don’t think that God would get confused. After all, he has the wisdom to know who is praying to who.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 9