We’ve been using the summer season this year to reflect on how our relationship with God transforms our routines and the mundane into matters of eternal significance. This week’s devotion challenges us to move beyond human experts and AI to hear the voice of God:

IN WORD – In order to learn the mind of God, we have to face up to a sobering fact: Our own understanding is fundamentally flawed. The human mind is never dependable, and it cannot be given free reign to choose its own direction. Why? Because our knowledge is limited and our motives are not pure. In our original condition, we do not desire above all else to glorify God at any cost. Even when we’ve come into a relationship with Him, our motives can be awfully mixed. We want His glory, but we want to seek our own good—in our own way—as well. We cannot be wise in this world without realizing we need the wisdom of Another. Desperately.
Think about it. Would you prefer to depend on the logic of a finite mind tainted with sinful motives? Or on the vast intellectual resources of the Omniscient—the One who knows the fabric of our souls and holds the future in His hands? The answer ought to be clear. Yet, at a practical level, we are often ambivalent about the choice. In principle, we want God’s wisdom. In practice, we follow our own.
IN DEED – The best advice we can find in Proverbs repeatedly points us to a wisdom beyond our own. God is worthy of all of our trust. We are worthy of suspicion. Yet we often struggle between His wisdom and ours. His can seem so hard. We forget that ours is harder. There are ominous consequences for depending on our own limited resources.
Trust is not natural to the fallen human heart. The redeemed heart has to learn it. We must make a conscious decision to forsake our own understanding and lean on His. Crises confront us all the time. Use them as opportunities to drink in the wisdom of the Source of all wisdom. Are you faced with a choice today? Make up your mind not to act on it until you have sought God’s wisdom diligently, persistently, and patiently. Ask Him for it. Follow it, no matter how hard it is. Let His mind become yours. “O Lord, in Thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.” — The Book of Common Prayer (in “Walk with God” by Chris Tiegreen)

Recent articles have shown that people are relying more on AI to get their answers to life’s challenges, even seeking it for counseling. But what people fail to realize is that AI only draws on past data, on what it can find on the internet. It draws only on human experiences.
God is not limited to the past. He sees just as clearly the present and the future. And He has provided us with a wonderful Counselor in the Holy Spirit. With human experts and AI, nothing is new under the sun. Only God can blaze new futures by providing us with new pathways beyond our imagination and transforming our situation according to His good and perfect will.
While enjoying your vacation this summer, take some time to reflect on who you are seeking for advice. Take time to reflect on Psalm 119 and ask the Holy Spirit for God’s infinite wisdom and lovingkindness that is freely given without a need for subscription or advertising. Lean on God and He will make your paths straight! Have a blessed week! From Taipei, Pastor Sam