Nehemiah 9:20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.

Differing translations can be fascinating. Where the NIV and other English translations say, “to instruct them,” the Japanese says, “to seek to make them smart/wise.” That’s not a purpose of the Holy Spirit we often talk about! However, as Nehemiah goes on to express, the people so blessed didn’t accept God’s Spirit very well, and instead acted very foolishly. The thing is, God doesn’t force His blessings on us; we have to receive them. As Paul pointed out, it’s all too possible to grieve the Holy Spirit, and when we do, He withdraws. (Ephesians 4:30) I think most people would like to be smart, but we are all born with different “mental horsepower.” God’s way to even that up, so to speak, is to provide His Spirit, since God Himself is omniscient. A person with an IQ of 80 who is filled with and yielded to God’s Spirit expresses more genuine wisdom than a genius who denies God. Not to get political, but that’s a good illustration of equality versus “equity,” as it is used today. We all have different starting points when it comes to intelligence, but God gives us equal access to His Spirit, Who is all wisdom and knowledge. It is obvious we don’t all arrive at the same level, but the determining factor isn’t our starting point, but rather how yielded we are to God’s Spirit.

This is a point of great interest to me. I took my first IQ test in the 5^th grade, and turned in a score of 150. Academics came easily to me, but I also made some very foolish decisions, and I descended into intellectual and spiritual pride. That was certainly not wise! God had to “take me to the woodshed,” so to speak, over that, but He was thankfully very gentle about it. A little after that He used someone who probably didn’t have an IQ like mine to help me understand how to open up to the Holy Spirit, and then another brother to open me up to spiritual gifts. As I have written recently, it was a real revelation to me to grasp, genuinely, that God’s smart and I’m not. It is only by His Spirit that I can act with His wisdom, and that is what I desire.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your incredible grace toward me. Help me live not by my intellect but by Your Spirit, just as You said to Zechariah. (Zechariah 4:6) May I never think that anything human can come up to Your level, in wisdom, power, or anything else, so that I may be fully obedient to whatever You say, accomplishing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!