Wisdom

Where to Find It if You’ve Lost, Forgotten,

or Never Had It

A non-fiction biblical exploration of wisdom,

by Carol Ogle McCracken

Welcome, Carol!

I love the comedy you used on the cover. Very intriguing. What is the significance of a tooth?

If you think the only wisdom you have is in your wisdom teeth, you aren’t alone. These days everyone has an opinion or answer for everything. How can we make wise decisions when the world wants an answer yesterday? Wisdom is not hidden, but you may need a map to help you find it. This book will help aid your search. Discover biblically proven techniques to help you make wise decisions amid the busyness of everyday life.

What can the reader expect to take away or learn?

No matter your current level of biblical knowledge, this book helps you open your heart and mind allowing you to examine wisdom for yourself. What is it? How do we get it? Why do we want it? How does it apply to the life I am living right now?

Wisdom, is a great individual study or excellent curriculum for a small group discussion. I recommend it for women eighteen years and above at all stages of life.

We could all use an extra dose of wisdom. Why did you write a book about finding it?

Life happened. I didn’t suddenly decide to go on a search for wisdom at fifty-five. I’ve experienced many joys in my life and many trials. Along the way, when intending to follow what seemed the next logical step in life, sometimes I realized it wasn’t the step God had for me. What was I missing?

Here is a sample from the book.

Sample

Chapter 1
From the Beginning

Why are our third molars called wisdom teeth? Because they come in so much later than our other teeth, when we are older and “wiser.” According to a Crest advertisement on the Internet, “Wisdom teeth grow in at the back of your mouth behind your molars. There is a set on the bottom as well as the top. Wisdom teeth often grow in crooked, sideways, or otherwise misaligned. As they grow in, they can push on other teeth, causing problems of overcrowding and misalignment for them as well.”

Wisdom teeth are extra and can cause trouble if not removed. Not the case for wisdom. As we grow older, we need to also grow wiser, but in the right kind of wisdom. So where does wisdom come from?

The Genesis of Wisdom

Wisdom begins with the beginning, with the fall. Not the season but humanity’s fall away from an initial relationship with God. Imagine how life was before that fall. Scripture tells us that man had fellowship with God. To me, this means man and God weren’t separated, with God remaining in heaven and man on earth. They were physically together in each other’s presence. Genesis 2:8 tells us, “The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed (ESV).” Verses 15–17 continue: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die’” (ESV).

Then the Lord created a helper for man, because among all the living creatures God had made up until that time, “there was not found a helper fit for him” (v. 20). “God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man” (vv. 21–22, ESV). Finally, verse 25 says, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Can you imagine a world with no shame? No blame? Everyone gets along. No one has a hidden agenda to accomplish a goal. There is no reason for any anger, because no one ever gets the short end of the stick. I believe this was God’s original intention for us in how to live together.

Then Genesis chapter 3 happens. The serpent tempts God’s newly created humans with wisdom. John MacArthur puts it well when he states, “Satan has always promised wisdom to those he tempts asserting that God’s word should be doubted and his own accepted, which was the essence of his temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. . . . Thus was born the lie that man can be his own god.”

As you read the account of the temptation in Genesis 3, notice that Eve wasn’t scared or surprised when the serpent approached her. Perhaps this type of creature was already present in the garden of Eden, so Eve wouldn’t be surprised. The serpent was not in the snake form that appears in our world today. The creature spoke to her, yet again she didn’t seem frightened.

At this point, Eve had no knowledge of evil. Evil can appear beautiful and even appealing. Satan was a beautiful cherub at one time (see Ezekiel 28:12–19), the highest of angels (see Isaiah 14:12–15). Satan masquerades as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14, ESV), deceiving humans. And he enters the garden of Eden in the form of a non-scary talking serpent.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
(Genesis 3:1–7)

About the Author

Carol Ogle McCracken has been a Bible teacher for twenty years and served on church staff and in women’s ministry for three decades. She currently serves as the Minister of Discipleship at her home church.

Carol is a Christian communicator in many different forums, large and small, and especially enjoys teaching at women’s retreats. She teaches a weekly Wednesday night women’s Bible study at her local church, which is also podcast. She has a passion for helping couples prepare for their lives together and presently owns a wedding planning company on the Gulf Coast. But her greatest passion is to make the Bible come alive for women, connecting scripture to a real relationship with Jesus.

Connect with Carol

Website – https://carolmccracken.com/

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