GROWING IN WISDOM (FAVORED)

1 Samuel 3:19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

In 1 Samuel 2:26, we see that Samuel grew in stature and favor with God and man. This favor was bestowed upon Samuel; and as he grew physically, he also grew in favor with God and man.  Why?  Because Samuel honored God.  Samuel had taken over for the High Priest Eli, who had let his sons make a mess of the temple.  Before Samuel came on the scene, the Word of the Lord was rare.  God didn’t speak because of the sin that Eli was allowing in the temple.  Now that Samuel was on the scene, God was talking again; and we see Samuel’s response.  Samuel didn’t let anything God said fall to the ground.  In other words, whatever God said to him, whatever God told him to do, he did it.  The favor of God grew as Samuel obeyed the Word of the Lord.  I think we can safely say the same thing will happen for us if we do as Samuel did.

So, it seems that favor can grow.  Your righteousness does not grow.  You are as righteous as you will ever be when you get born again, but the fruit of your righteousness can grow.  It seems that God bestows favor, but it can either grow or seem to be almost nonexistent based on what we do.   

The Word even says that Jesus grew in favor.  Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”  Again, as Jesus grew up physically, He also grew in the wisdom of God; and, therefore, His favor with God and man increased.  What do we need to do to grow in favor with God and man?  “Nothing,” you might say; “God either gives it to you or He doesn’t;” but with further investigation, is that really what the Bible teaches?  The Word seems to tell us what to do to grow in the favor we walk in.  First, we must hear the Word and be a doer of whatever God says in the written Word and what He speaks to our heart.  Someone who is not a doer of what God says, who lets the Word of the Lord fall to the ground, will not walk in their God given favor.  The second thing we see is Jesus grew in wisdom.

I am grateful the Word of God says that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God, and He will give it to us liberally without finding fault with us (He will not “DUH” you).  Proverbs 8:35 (AMPC) says, “For whoever finds me [wisdom] finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord.”  The main place you find wisdom is from the Word of God.  When you find it, put it in practice in your life because when you do, this says that you will find favor with the Lord, which we know turns into favor with man.  During this time, when the Lord is talking to us about profuse favor, we must do our part to walk in it.  It is not works that will get God to do something.  It is positioning ourselves by our actions to walk in what has been provided.  Do the Word and walk in the wisdom of God.