Women & More

A Mentoring Bible Study

At Wit’s End
September 24, 2009

‘Wit’ is defined as reasoning power (intelligence); mental soundness (sanity);

resourcefulness, ingenuity, quickness and cleverness in handling words and
ideas. According to Webster’s: “At one’s wit’s end” means: a person is at a
loss for a means of solving a problem. That is where our study will go today!
God is committed to bringing us to the end of self-assurance and self-effort; he
will allow us, if necessary, to be at a loss for a means of solving a problem—
without him—so that we will come back to Him.
“Without him I could do nothing;
Without him I’d surely fail.
Without him I would be drifting
Like a ship without a sail.”
Mylon R. Lefevre

As long as we have it—‘wit’—we’re not inclined to reach out for or draw near
to God. Scripture is replete with examples of coming to the end of our ability to
solve a problem and crying out for God. God often allows us to come to those
places; they can literally be appointments with him, with a purpose of being
delivered by him. Jonathan Edwards called God “The Hound of Heaven”
because he pursues us. He does that; and he equally orchestrates circumstances
in our lives where we will pursue him—almost always at wit’s end.
Why is it that we have to come to the end of ourselves before we seek God? It
is the sinful nature at work in us! Charles Spurgeon:
“The Lord sometimes suffers His people to be driven into a corner that
they may experimentally know how necessary He is to them, In seasons
of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and
is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone…. Happy storm
that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives
the soul to God and God alone!”
Often we have enough friends and enough resources and enough ‘wit’ about us
to get through life’s tribulations, but when the tempest is terrible and the waves
are wild; when the storm is sudden and sustained, or brief but brutal, when the
dark is deadening with no light in sight, then is when we will turn our eyes, our
ears and our hearts to our great God, and he is there ready and waiting to meet
us. Hosea 5:15 “In their affliction they will seek me early.”

Discipleship (Followship) Ministry

Grace—Grove’s First Baptist Church—24 September 2009--jmoore
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And what is true for us is true for our children! What God uses to draw us
closer to him, and even bring us back to him after a season of sin, he will use
with our children. We need to recognize when God is emptying our hands—our
children’s hands—of resources and ‘wit’ to solve problems. Because if we think
we can do something on our own—without God—we will tend to try and do it.
Jesus reminds us in Luke 18:27 “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Look at an Old Testament example:
►Genesis 32 recounts how Jacob left his Uncle Laban taking his wives, flocks,
herds and possessions, and was headed back to meet up with Esau, the brother
he had—at very least—twice-cheated and who was coming now to meet him
with 400 men. Jacob had been a deceiver—a very clever man, who had all his
wits about him…until now! Scripture says Jacob was in great fear and distress,
and after dividing the people with him into groups of greatest treasure to least,
he prayed to God: “O God…save me I pray from the hand of my brother Esau.”
During a literal wrestling match with God, Jacob is renamed Israel—because
God said he had struggled with God and with men and had overcome. Then
God leaves his calling card and touches the socket of Jacob’s hip, putting it out
of joint for life. Jacob will never forget that tussle with the Almighty and being
humbled, delivered—at wit’s end—and then blessed. He will doubtless go there
—wit’s end—again in his life and God will be there again!
The Old Testament recounts so many who, at their wit’s end, turned to God and
experienced deliverance: Lot in Genesis 14 and Hagar in Genesis 21; Naomi
in the Book of Ruth and Jonah in the book bearing his name…to list a few.
Turning to the New Testament, we find it difficult to select one example, so
here are several.
►While we don’t know any of the events leading up to this widow meeting
Jesus at her son’s funeral, we do know from her grief that she was reaching
wit’s end. The whole of her resources and sanity—her reason for living—was
lying in a casket ready to be committed to the cold hard earth. Jesus had just
healed the centurion’s servant in Capernaum and had traveled to Nain with his
disciples and a large crowd in tow. In Luke 7:12 “As he approached the town gate, a
dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And
a large crowd from the town was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to
her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’

If the service ended there, Jesus would have been just another well-meaning
person who had a bit of a strange way of comforting someone in such loss
—“don’t cry,” He tells this mother. What kind of words are those?

Discipleship (Followship) Ministry

Grace—Grove’s First Baptist Church—24 September 2009, jmoore
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Coming from Jesus those words were packed with promise! The Son of God
would not ask a grieving mother, and widow at that, to “not cry” without divine
reason. It’s the same request he makes of us in Scripture today: “Be anxious for
nothing.” In a world of harrowing madness, mind-numbing wickedness, with
catastrophe and chaos galore, God tells us not to be anxious. And he told the
widow of Nain—weak with grief at her only son’s burial service—not to cry!
Verse 14 picks up: “Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood
still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ 15The dead man sat up and began to talk,
and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” Would this widow ever forget wit’s end?
Would she remember forever this Jesus—the One who gave back her only son?
♥Know that our God cares more about our children than we do—that he
will meet them at wit’s end. We need to be mindful and careful not to interfere
with God’s dealings. Recently I learned that my granddaughter, 20 and in
college, is working at a place where she has not been paid but $100 for working
some 5 weeks. Her boss pays by cash only and keeps putting her off when she
tries to talk to him about being paid her salary—and her tips, which are
substantial. This is a place where she is required to serve mixed drinks…and so
it’s not a particularly family-friendly establishment—a Martini Bar. So in
praying for her, I need to be aware that God may be allowing her not to be paid
so that she will reach wit’s end and turn to Him for help, and change jobs.
We must not rescue ourselves or our children from wit’s end, except to
encourage from God’s Word and pray, pray and pray. “Children are a precious
gift from God, but much anxiety comes with them, says Spurgeon. “O for more
agonizing prayer on their behalf…sin is there, so let our prayers begin to attack
it…. Never must we cease to pray until they cease to breathe. No case is
hopeless while Jesus lives.”
God has a way for us to pray at wit’s end: And in Colossians 1:9-14 Paul has a
prayer for us, one that he prayed. We should model it for ourselves and for our
children—for that matter, anyone. The critical points include:
1) Don’t stop praying
2) Ask God to fill (the one) with the knowledge of his will
3) Live a life worthy of the Lord
a. please him in every way
b. bear fruit in every good work
c. grow in knowledge of God
4) Be strengthened with God’s power
a. for endurance and patience
b. joyfully give thanks

Discipleship (Followship) Ministry

Grace—Grove’s First Baptist Church—24 September 2009, jmoore
 At Wit’s End 4

Conclusion: God has qualified us to pray His will, because he has rescued us
and he has redeemed us through forgiveness of sins! Proverbs 14:26 “He who
fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.”

►I cannot finish this lesson without including the Parable of the Lost Son; and
you wouldn’t want me to. It was at wit’s end that the prodigal came to his
senses, and it was there that he determined to return to his father’s house. After
he took his inheritance and squandered his wealth in wild living, Scripture says
in Luke 15:14: “After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole
country, and he began to be in need (resources all gone). 15So he went and hired himself
out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his
stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”

Friendless and foodless—sanitarily challenged and sanity tested—notice that he

did not even get to eat the pods that the pigs were fortunate enough to eat. O
my, this is the place…this is it! Consequences of our own decisions have
brought us here, but Jesus wants us to see that this place will cause us to
rethink, to reassess, to regroup—to be of a repentant mind. It will bring about
change: first in our attitudes and then in our actions.
Pick up in verse 17: “When he came to his senses (at wit’s end), he said, ‘How many
of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out
and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and
against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired
men.’ 20So he got up and went to his father.” We know that the father was waiting,
and that when he saw his son coming he was filled with compassion for him.
We know that he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
This parable of Jesus makes the following verses sing: Proverbs 22:6 “Train a
child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Malachi 4:6
“He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children….” Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not
exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

●At wit’s end found the woman with an issue of blood for twelve long years
reaching out in faith and touching Jesus.
●At wit’s end prompted Peter, after denying the Lord Jesus three times in a
public place, to see Jesus and repent—weeping bitterly.
●At wit’s end caused Jesus’ disciples, who had scattered at his crucifixion, to
come together that morning after and see their resurrected Lord.
●At wit’s end the blind beggar called out—and even shouted out when rebuked
by the disciples—“Son of David, have mercy on me.” And his blind eyes saw!
●At wit’s end Zacahaeus climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus—was
himself seen by Jesus, and came to a saving relationship with Him.

Discipleship (Followship) Ministry

Grace—Grove’s First Baptist Church—24 September 2009, jmoore
 At Wit’s End 5

►The best advice that the world can offer when we’ve reached the end of
ourselves—to deal with life; to figure things out; to keep us going when we’ve
failed to keep our ‘wits’ about us—is platitudes and to encourage self.
—Keep your chin up!
—Don’t worry; be happy!
—Things have a way of working out!
—When the going gets tough, the tough get going!
—Look on the bright side!
—Things have got to get better ‘cause they can’t get any worse!
—What goes around comes around!
—Do the best you can do and leave the rest to chance!
—When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
—When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!
These sayings are not sinful, but they are ‘pods’ that we cannot eat or digest,
because there’s no substance in them. But God’s Word is rich with gracious
help! We must run to the Father—through His Son—and receive mercy and
grace. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Spurgeon again: “Great grace is
needed, but great grace is provided!”
Scripture’s 911 passage is Psalm 91:1 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most
High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Verse 2 continues: “I will say of the LORD,
‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” SKIP to verse 9: “If you
make the Most High your dwelling—even the LORD, who is my refuge—10then no harm will
befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.”

Comes a day when we’re at the end of ourselves; our ability to endure, to
persevere, and, certainly, to figure it all out—wit’s end. This is the point we
need to come, to turn homeward, heavenward. We can take hope, because this
is the same place God will lead our wandering, erring children—precisely the
point at which we and they are ready for God’s marvelous grace. God knows
how to lead us up to crisis, and he knows how to lead us through.
GOD’S GRACE…
is his mercy and unmerited (undeserved) favor to us,
and it is saving, transforming, sustaining,
all sufficient, and truly amazing!
PS: Add to our recommended reading: Relief For Hurting Parents, by Buddy Scott (How to
fight for the lives of teenagers and how to prepare younger children for less dangerous
journeys through teenage years.) Hope and help inside.

Discipleship (Followship) Ministry

Grace—Grove’s First Baptist Church—24 September 2009, jmoore