Greg Ford - How to Make Wise Decisions
We’re in a series of messages right now we’re calling «Cover to Cover.» We’re going through the whole Bible, and you know, we’re taking a high-level view of the Bible. We’ve talked a lot about the meta-narrative of the Bible. We’re looking at how to approach the Bible. We took a few weeks to lay a foundation by looking at the Bible as literature, as history, and as theology. If you’re not careful, you could try to make the Bible say or mean what it doesn’t say or mean. We need to remember that it was written for us but not to us, and it is a cross-cultural experience whenever you open the Bible. So, we’re trying to equip you as best as I can in that process while providing some things we can build on over the long haul.
This is going to be my last week in the Old Testament. Last week, we looked at a pretty large portion of the kings, prophets, and priests, and how all those relationships work together. When we get to the New Testament, we will reach back into the Old Testament, just as when we were in the Old Testament, we were reaching into the New Testament. But this will be the last official week in the Old Testament, and I want to look at what’s called the wisdom literature of the Bible. Some people call them the poetic books, but the wisdom literature consists of some of the more familiar books in the Bible: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. We will take a look at these in the Old Testament and the best ways to learn from them, and how we should think about them.
What I want to talk about today is the relationship between emotions and wisdom. I want to start with a brief look at how our brains work. I’m going to share an excerpt from a book called «Strangers to Ourselves,» written by a guy named Timothy Wilson. Basically, he’s trying to help people understand what’s going on inside their heads second by second. Here’s a quote from the book: «Research indicates that the subconscious mind handles approximately 11 million bits of data per second from sensory inputs while consciousness processes only about 40 bits per second.»
They hooked the brain up to various electrical sensors and measured how much you can sense through your senses. About 10 million bits of information come through your eyes, about a million come through your skin (your sense of touch), and hundreds of thousands come through your ears, nose, and taste buds. So, think about that. If every second you are subconsciously receiving that much information, but you can only process about 40 bits, that’s 0. 0005% of what you’re sensing. Your brain goes through the process of taking those sensory messages and compressing them down, and you have about a 0.05-second reflex where you sense it. Then it gets compressed into your conscious mind, where your mind starts trying to figure out what’s happening. This leads to hundreds of billions of bits of data occurring daily.
The reason I bring that up is that the reality is it’s creating emotions, even subconsciously. Many things you are not fully conscious of are eliciting emotional responses and creating feelings internally. A significant portion of our lives is spent figuring out how to navigate this. If I’m experiencing 11 million bits subconsciously, 40 to 50 bits consciously, and my ability to verbalize words might be 1 to 5 bits per second, it’s going to take a while to work through these things.
What I want to discuss is something we’ll see in the wisdom literature — a framework for how we read these things, especially if we’re trying to understand what we’re supposed to take away. It’s the idea of thinking fast and thinking slow. Thinking fast is emotional; it’s instinctual and often survival-based. These subconscious patterns in our brains keep us alive by creating feelings right away. Our feelings bring something into our consciousness that we know we need to address.
Thinking slow is deliberate, reflective, and wisdom-producing. When it comes to feelings as they relate to faith, church, God, or religion, it’s often hard to know how to approach it in the healthiest way. If you think of the spectrum, some people base their entire religious experience and relationship with God solely on feelings. I’ve seen people get caught up in their feelings and attribute things to God that he probably had nothing to do with. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help people sort through their minds, emotions, and spirits since someone told them that God wanted them to do something that likely had nothing to do with God.
Some people think deeply about their feelings; it must be the Holy Spirit compelling them. Others swing the pendulum completely to the other side and reduce their relationship with God to cognitive understanding. Every aspect of their relationship with God becomes a mathematical equation. I believe that’s also a mistake because if everything I believe and know about God must fit into my brain, I become the limitation. There’s a lot that’s true about God; there’s a lot about faith that may never add up in your mind.
We must be able to sit in this tension and think fast. In other words, when I feel my emotions, I can’t dismiss them entirely as liars that I need to push away. But I don’t want to think so fast that I’m living impulsively. Whatever conclusion I reach based on my ability to process those 11 million subconscious bits of information and 40 conscious bits, I don’t want to act on those strong feelings immediately. I must go through the process; truly, you have to get into the process of thinking fast. Pay attention to the emotion. It’s telling you something-there’s some truth there-but it’s not the whole truth. Before I become conclusive, I need to react to it and start making my way through it by also thinking slowly.
That’s what you’ll see in the wisdom literature. If you think of this thinking fast and thinking slow framework, we can lay it over the various books of wisdom literature and show you a little bit about how to do that.
Let’s briefly summarize the five books of the Old Testament wisdom literature.
The first is the Book of Job. Job is the story of a righteous man who experiences immense suffering, and the book focuses on the nature of suffering, faith, and divine justice. In this story, Job is a good man who has it all going for him-he’s a model individual with a great business and a great family. Tragically, in a moment, he loses everything. In the blink of an eye, he enters an immediate process of grief. He starts in denial, unable to absorb the information, and he must deal with his own feelings of grief. His wife becomes so despondent that, at a low point, when he’s trying to maintain faith, she tells him to curse God and die.
He feels alone in his marriage, and when his friends show up, although they mean well, all they do is confuse him further. For most of the book, God is silent while Job suffers spiritually, physically, and emotionally. He reaches a low point where he starts crying out to God in anger and confusion. At the end of the book, God finally speaks to him.
Throughout Job’s monologue, you will see him thinking fast. He feels intense feelings and verbalizes exactly what he feels, but he also thinks slowly. He works through 42 chapters without quitting or giving in to despair. In chapter 42, verse 3, he says, «Surely I spoke of things I did not understand.» In other words, when I was thinking fast, I expressed things that felt real, but I didn’t fully understand what I was saying. He was overwhelmed by 11 million bits of information running through his mind that he could only process 40 at a time. By staying with it, he says in verse 5, «My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.» Through being honest about what he felt but not getting stuck in grief, he ultimately comes to a deeper understanding of God. We see him living out the idea of thinking fast and slow in front of us.
Psalms is primarily known as a book of hymns and prayers, but many of the Psalms contain wisdom teachings on living a righteous life and also discuss the nature of God. That’s what you can expect when you read Psalms. We’ll look at a few Psalms in a moment. Proverbs is a collection of sayings and teachings that provide practical advice for developing Godly wisdom. These are some of the easiest to understand — they’re pithy sayings that contain time-tested truths.
One thing to note when thinking about the wisdom literature of the Bible: these are not promises; they are probabilities. We’ve been discussing how, from the Garden, it’s God’s desire that we live in a state of shalom — a place of peace with Him, ourselves, and others- not just peace, but a place of prosperity, fullness, and security. The wisdom literature helps us know how to do that, how to choose our circle, how to select our partners in life, and how to deal with issues such as money and business. It offers wisdom for maintaining shalom in our lives.
But to be clear, it’s probabilities. It’s, «You’re much more likely to maintain shalom in this way.» It’s not a promise. For instance, «Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it.» That is not a promise; it’s a probability. If you train a child in the right way, there’s a good chance they will not depart later. However, you can’t claim that as a promise from God. If your child makes a different choice, they are free will beings who can decide for themselves. At some point, you did everything you could do, and if they don’t follow your guidance, that’s not God breaking a promise; it’s the highest likelihood based on the decisions you control.
Ecclesiastes is a philosophical book that explores the meaning of life, the limitations of human wisdom, and a search for purpose. My daughter turned 16 this year, and she and I read through Ecclesiastes a few months ago. She loved it. If you have a 16-year-old, take them through Ecclesiastes. She was saying, «That’s a bar right there, Dad!» It features incredible practical wisdom designed to help younger people think beyond their immediate concerns. It was written for young aristocrats-those who will soon be leading and developing their skills in life. The text encourages them to think deeply about meaning and the bigger picture, often neglected at 15 or 16.
Song of Solomon is a poetic and allegorical book that explores love, relationships, and the beauty of creation.
Here’s what I want to do: I want us to think about how, within the wisdom literature and poetic books, we have a picture of bringing the entire emotional human spectrum to God — whatever you’re experiencing-while considering how to do that by thinking fast and slow.
Let’s consider five different human emotions or scenarios people often navigate.
The first is anger. I’m going to give you a warning: we’re going to read Psalm 109, and it’s quite intense. Psalm 109, a Psalm of David — about half of the Psalms are attributed to David-shows him responding to powerful people who mistreat others. He says in Psalm 109:6, «Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy.» He is talking to God. «Let an accuser stand at his right hand; when he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. May his descendants be cut off; may their names be blotted out from the next generation.» I think he was upset.
What’s happening here? We see fast thinking first. You read this and think, «Wow, that’s over the top!» It’s excessive — a bit cringy. But I’m grateful for Psalm 109 because it shows us the depth of human emotion and, frankly, often how intense our feelings can be. Even while trying to process those 11 million bits into 40, the intensity of those feelings is often connected to something deeper that has been offended. In David’s case, his sense of justice was deeply offended.
While reading this, it’s essential to note that this isn’t a moral example for us. We shouldn’t think, «I’m going to do everything David said and take justice into my own hands.» What David shows us is permission to feel intense feelings, especially in dire situations. Although it sounds horrible when you read these lines, he expresses the wish that the one mistreating him experiences the consequences of their actions. He is powerless, observing injustice while feeling anger toward God, who he sees as omnipotent.
So, while reading this, wisdom and emotion involve thinking fast and slow. When feeling these intense emotions, it’s crucial to step back rather than become decisive or take impulsive action. Instead, we should take these feelings to the Lord. David demonstrates that the most appropriate place for such intense feelings is to God-not on social media. I’m not saying don’t ever post, but when you’re in that mood, avoid posting a Psalm 109. Step back, go to God, and talk it out.
It gives us permission to feel what we feel, but we must decide how to channel it. I understand the desire for justice and wishing the wicked would reap what they sow. But we must not sin in our anger; instead, we can bring it to the Lord, expressing our anger to Him but working through it healthily.
The second emotion is sadness. Psalm 42:5 states, «Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?» Job, while embracing grief, expresses in Job 6:2 — 3, «If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery placed on scales, it would surely outweigh the sand of the seas.» He admits to feeling crushed by sorrow and acknowledges that his words may be impulsive. He grants himself grace in the process, recognizing feelings are valid.
Remember, sadness doesn’t mean you’re faithless; it often signifies honesty. We must embrace and lean into it. My wife and I recently recorded a podcast about the human capacity to hold multiple emotions simultaneously. For example, at a funeral, one can feel grief and gratitude concurrently. Emotional maturity, which the wisdom literature helps cultivate, is realizing we shouldn’t become singular in our emotions. It doesn’t mean we avoid sadness; instead, we recognize we can experience sadness and hope, despair and optimism, grief and gratitude simultaneously.
Job illustrates this well. His primary emotional experience is sadness, yet he moves forward through it.
The next emotion is confusion. In Ecclesiastes 2:18 -20, the writer expresses discouragement, saying, «I came to hate all my work here on Earth, for I must leave everything to others.» He questions whether his successor will be wise or foolish and comes to the conclusion that life is often meaningless without proper motivation.
Many people reach a point where they wrestle with the right motivation for their actions. Job, in confusion, offers a profound statement in Job 13:15: «Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him. I will surely defend my ways to his face.» Job struggles to understand the role of God in his suffering, yet he remains faithful. You can be confused and faithful simultaneously; it’s about holding these tensions in your prayers and working through them.
The next emotion is joy. Psalm 150 states, «Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.» Psalm 98:4-6 encourages us to «shout for joy to the Lord all the earth; burst into jubilant song with music.» Psalm 34:3 says, «Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.»
Part of what we do each week is gather to sing songs of joy. Sometimes, while singing, we experience a mixture of emotions- anger, sadness, confusion-but we also stand alongside our brothers and sisters to glorify our heavenly father. We encourage one another and celebrate joy. Outside of our corporate worship, we also need to develop deep relationships in our community to share joy and celebrate one another’s achievements.
Often, we live in a world of jealousy and loneliness. How often have you had something good happen and hesitated to share it because you feared others would be jealous? We want to create a church where when someone is excited, we rejoice with them! We shouldn’t rush through joy. I was affirming a friend the other day for their accomplishments, and they replied, «It wasn’t really me.» I told them to stop and receive the compliment. God is not offended when you feel joy for your hard work. If something works out, let’s celebrate it!
This frame of thinking encourages us to embrace the full emotional spectrum-recognizing sadness and joy. Psalm 150:6 says to let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
I end with this encouragement: take this framework of thinking fast and slow when you feel something stemming from countless sensory inputs. Don’t ignore the feeling; don’t suppress it. Instead, listen to it-don’t obey it, but listen to it and dig deeper. Slow down; don’t react immediately. Embrace the feeling for the long term.
Next, ask deeper questions-continue to question until you reach a revelation. Bring it to God; pray about it. The spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you and will guide you into all wisdom and knowledge. It might take a while, but keep praying and trusting -going through your own 42 chapters like Job if necessary.
Finally, learn and live the lesson. It’s not enough to learn; you have to be willing to execute and apply what you’ve learned. Wisdom is applied knowledge. When you learn something, you’re expected to live it out.
Lord, we thank you that you lead and guide us into wisdom. Each of us is trying to process through 11 million bits of information, and within those limitations, you help us to slow down and see things we may not normally notice. I pray that as the wisdom writers did in their day, we would do so in ours-case by case, situation by situation-and that you would lead us to turn our feelings and emotions into wisdom. We need you. Thank you in Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen.