Pastor in the Pasture Wendel Elliott: Wisdom

There’s a big difference between knowing something and having wisdom. You can gain a whole wealth of knowledge by watching Ray Hunt videos or sitting in the crowd of a Buck Brannaman clinic. However, it takes some wisdom to apply that knowledge. Wisdom has to be used on a horse that’s fresh off the pasture or has had some bad techniques used in its life. You can gain some knowledge about how to handle cattle from someone. They could explain and coach you in what to do in certain scenarios. That plays out on a whole different level when applying that knowledge in the pen with a snorty, snot slinging hussy that is on the hook. I recently had a conversation with my son who works for another outfit. The regular crew was in a pen sorting out some bulls and one came at my son’s horse. What happened after was amazing because God was definitely watching out for him. The bull got his head up under the belly of my son’s horse. The bull didn’t throw the horse in the air but passed by underneath the horse. Horse and rider were left relatively unscathed when it was all said and done. A slight sprain to the horse’s ankle or knee was a result, but all in all in good condition. My son said to me, “You know dad I don’t know what I would have done if things went really south. None of those on the small crew had enough wisdom or were handy enough to rope and handle a bull or a wreck of that caliber.” Case and point that you can have some knowledge about cattle but not much wisdom when it comes to handling wrecks.

Speaking of wrecks, school systems across the country have caved to being a place of knowledge but not any wisdom. Now I know there are a multitude of good schools, good teachers, good administration, and good parents out there, especially in Tri-State Livestock News readership area. However, the current situation leaves us like my son in that pen with a bull on the fight. We have schools cranking out students that have some knowledge but for the most part won’t be reliable to have wisdom in crucial times. They are obtaining and receiving knowledge of all kinds even if that knowledge doesn’t pertain to good old fashioned reading, writing, and arithmetic.

God’s authoritative word says: “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28 NASB) According to this it is wisdom to fear the Lord and understanding to depart from evil, both of which we find nowhere in public schools today.

---

---

We have a current knowledge proliferation of things that go against the very character, attributes, nature, and teaching of God through His word. Despite all the learning and writing of info and knowledge; man’s wisdom is impotent, especially when it comes to the more important spiritual questions and the meaning of life. Why do we rely on earthly man’s knowledge and wisdom but ignore the great wisdom of God in the Bible? Mankind’s disconnect lies in seeing God’s message and wisdom of the cross as foolishness. God’s word says that very thing in 1 Corinthians 1:18 – 20, ”For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise , And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside . Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:18 -20 NASB) It seems that applying the wisdom of God to the spreading of knowledge would be in order and a definite remedy to our ailing school systems across this great nation.

We’re in a wreck as a nation. We’ve got a bull in the pen, he’s on the hook and looking for somebody to knock down. We need individuals with wisdom to rope that bull…to help get us out of this wreck and keep us out. We need folks that will put that wisdom to work so we can pass on what we have to the next generations.

---

---

Well, I best shake out a loop…I don’t want to be one of the ones that sat idly by as our next generations fell prey to a bull on the hook.

I’ll see y’all out in the pasture!