Many Sided Wisdom of God

manifold - polupoikilos (pol-oo-poy'-kil'os) - variegated, various, many colored, many sided, woven

Ephesians 3:10 - "in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church . . ."

I Peter 1:6 - "in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary you have been distressed by various trials"

I Peter 4:10 - "As each one has received a special gift, empty it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

Manifold is a wonderful picture of variegated things. We often look at the word that follows manifold thinking that that's the focal point of the passage. Today, I'm looking at a word that allows the noun after manifold to take on fuller meaning.

The veil in the Tabernacle was variegated with the many colors God instructed Moses to have included. There was even hammered gold woven into the fabric of that veil. So, when the light from the lamp stand glistened on the veil, there was a different "view" each time. It was a wonderful reminder that in worship we can see the Father in various ways.

Another look at manifold comes in a more current example of crocheting. Have you ever seen variegated yarn? I used to watch my mom crocket. (I was learning to do that when I broke my arm playing basketball and never got back to the yarn!) That variegated yarn is something! It comes in four inch color strips all wound together in long yarn. It has about 6 different colors that repeat over and over. When the crocheting was complete, you could see the woven colors all together. Each time you looked at the finished work, you could see something different!

One of my favorite ideas of manifold is the disco ball. Yep! It's that mirror ball stuck high on the ceiling that reflects light out into the room from the spotlight shining on it. While I haven't been in too many discos lately, I have used that ball in musical presentations. As I watched the reflections flying around the room, I was reminded that the Father's wisdom is much like this. It was as if every one of those pieces of mirror were a piece of the wisdom of God. When the light of the Son shined on it, His wisdom could be seen!

I truly believe that when we ask for wisdom, we receive it. God has a wise answer! I've just talked about the many sides of His wisdom, but also His grace is available in that perspective too. Is there grace to cover your situation? Yes, there is!

Father, what side of Your wisdom and grace are needed in various circumstances? Help my eyes see what You are showing me!