TRUTH ON ITS HEAD

Unusual Wisdom in the Paradoxes of the Bible

Warren W. Wiersbe

Truth on Its Head: Unusual Wisdom in the Paradoxes of the Bible

© 2016 by Warren W. Wiersbe

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

First edition by Weaver Book Company.

All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version.

Print ISBN 9781683591764

Digital ISBN 9781683591771

Cover design: Frank Gutbrod

Editorial: Line for Line Publishing Services

Contents

Prologue: Contradiction Becomes Illumination

1. The Joyful Fear of the Lord

2. When We Are Weak, We Can Be Strong

3. The More We Give, the More We Receive

4. When We Choose to Go Down, God Lifts Us Up

5. Our Foolishness Leads Us to God’s Wisdom

6. By Standing Still, We Go Forward

7. We Must Lose Our Life to Save It

8. When Light Becomes Darkness

9. Unknown, and Yet Well Known

10. Sorrowing Yet Always Rejoicing

11. We Lead Others by Serving Them

12. Knowing Love That Passes Knowledge

13. We See the Invisible

14. Losing What You Never Had

15. We Are Yoked to Be Free

Prologue: Contradiction Becomes Illumination

A paradox is a statement that attracts attention because it seems to be contradictory. This arouses curiosity and we are puzzled. But as we meditate on the statement, we go deeper into some important facet of life and learn something new. Paradoxes are marvelous instructors.

“Nothing succeeds like success” is a familiar saying, but what about “There is nothing that fails like success”? I read that statement in the first chapter of G. K. Chesterton’s Heretics. Chesterton used a paradox to get my attention and arouse my curiosity. Hillel, the famous first-century rabbi wrote, “My lowliness is my loftiness; my loftiness is my lowliness.” It sounds a great deal like our Lord’s, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

Our heavenly Father wants all of His children to make progress in the Christian life, and every true Christian should want to obey Him and mature. The apostle Peter admonished his readers to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). If we want to glorify our Lord, we must grow. According to the apostle John, God’s family is made up of “little children … fathers … and young men” (1 John 2:12–14). And while all believers are “little children” ...