The Wisdom to Manage Strength and Power

UV 3198/10000 The Wisdom to Manage Strength or Power
Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
Daniel 2 v 20

Daniel praises God with this uni-verse after He revealed to him the dream of the king Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord manifests His power and wisdom in the lives of ordinary people like Daniel to reveal His extraordinary nature, His immense love for human beings and to give them an extraordinary testimony. Only God is blessed with both power and wisdom, strength and understanding. The Hebrew names of the Lord like Jehavah El Shaddai, Nissi, Jireh, Tsidkenu, Rohi, Elohim, Adonai reflect the might coupled with the infinite wisdom of God. Power rarely comes accompanied by wisdom among earthly rulers. This is the reason the statement that power corrupts is absolutely true. Most earthly rulers and administrators have a measure of power or strength to execute things but do not have the commensurate wisdom. People do not have understanding matching or commensurate with abilities, turning the latter into "lie-abilities" or abilities that appear to be strengths but are cause of weaknesses and failures. Like a horse is controlled with reins, our strength or power should be harnessed to wisdom which constitutes the reins of the Lord. The Word of God becomes both our reins and the paths in which we should run or use our strengths.

Though the Lord is all powerful, He manifests only the level of power that is needed. He carefully calibrates with His wisdom, the extent of His strength that needs to be released in a particular situation, not one bit more. In the scale of things, the Lord values His wisdom more than His power or strength. Likewise, He exults when we humans seek wisdom more than power. But history of the world is a record of humans in the pursuit of the love of power. Instead our pursuits should be marked by the power of love. Love is the wisdom of God. Due to such love, the wisdom of God might appear to be foolish or weak in the eyes of the world. For instance, the all wise, all powerful Christ submitting to the most terrible form of punishment invented by humans might appear foolish or weak as if He had yielded or been defeated by the enemy. He had immense power at His command. He could have called legions of angels to rescue Him from the captivity of the earthly rulers but His love and wisdom constrained Him from using such power. Round One appeared to have been won by the enemy and earthly rulers who had condemned Him to death but the third day on, the purpose of God became clear and accomplished. The power of death was defeated forever. The payment for all sin was made. Resurrection power was hereafter available to all humans. All humans could hope to live forever and in the knowledge of God’s love and the hope of eternal life.
The wisdom of God is the source of great strength. It is sharply distinguished from human or intellectual wisdom. It is a higher order of strength than strength itself. Without it, our strengths become a source of weakness in our lives. If we seek the wisdom of God and ask Him for such wisdom, scripture promises us that He will give it to us generously or abundantly. Power or strength should always play second fiddle to the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is not imparted at one shot to people. Even though Daniel was wise, he had to seek the wisdom of God in specific situations as these came up. Likewise, we need to seek situation-specific wisdom in our lives on a daily basis.