Perhaps it is the name of someone you want to call.  Sometimes it is a tune that is dancing around your mind just out of memory’s reach.  There was an item that my wife asked me to pick up at the store.  “Write it down so you’ll remember,” she said.  “Not necessary,” I replied.  And there I was wandering the aisles hoping I would see something that might jog my memory.

You scrunch up your brow; rub your temples with your fists, and contort your face into a bizarre mask of concentration.  None of this helps.  Finally, a disconnected thought pops into your mind or you run into an acquaintance and stop to chat.  A few minutes later you remember whatever it was that was tormenting you.

Isn’t it amazing?  All that sweating and stressing to remember and—nothing!  Then three minutes of doing something else, and bingo!  There it is.  It came back to you as clearly as could be.  

Like all of us, I spend my day tackling challenges. Sometimes there’s a problem baffling me. Then I put it out of mind and retire for the night.  Often in the early pre-dawn hours I will awaken and am instantly aware that I have had a creative thought breakthrough.  Grabbing the pen and pad I always keep alongside my bed, and which I recommend as a vital business tool, I can hurriedly scrawl down the answer to the daunting problem from the day before. 

Every time this happens I am amazed, yet it shouldn’t astound me.  After all, this is one of those timeless truths of ancient Jewish wisdom.  Human creativity thrives in an environment of thrust, retreat, and then thrust again.  Work the problem, back off, and then return to the problem.  It will yield more rapidly than it would in one long protracted push.

This is the principle of both sleep and the Sabbath.

Withdrawing from economic and other forceful interactions with the world during the Sabbath doesn’t lessen our productivity; it enhances it. Six days of creativity depend for their effectiveness upon the one day of rest and retreat.  

The function of sleep itself is one of the 125 greatest mysteries of science, according to Science magazine.  It certainly appears that any creature that managed to do away with sleep would enjoy enormous evolutionary advantage.  First of all it would have no extended period of vulnerability to predators.  Second, it would have significantly more time available for food gathering and reproduction.  Yet we all need sleep. Trying to override this need with stimulants doesn’t work long term. 

This is a physical parallel to a spiritual reality. Just as our bodies require sleep, so do our minds and souls. Creativity and productivity are enhanced by regular periods of withdrawal.  

Life is full of stressful problems. We think we can’t afford to stop running. Sometimes we think we can’t even take the time to talk to God on a daily basis. Yet if we force ourselves to retreat, we will find that we are using time more efficiently, not less. 

In addition to setting times for sleep, prayer and the Sabbath, I think it’s a good idea to make a regular appointment with yourself right in your calendar just as you make appointments to meet with a customer or client.  Mark it down as thinking time. It might only be twenty minutes of intense concentration on a problem.  Work at that problem keeping extraneous ideas out of your head. Then switch your focus to something else. Let your subconscious work the problem for you. 

When God set up the rhythms of night and day, six days of work and the Sabbath, He was providing the means by which individuals and societies thrive. I am delighted that two of my audio CDs that explore the truths God built into the world, Tower of Power: Decoding the Secrets of Babel and Madam, I’m Adam: Decoding the Marriage Secrets of Eden are now available as downloads. In celebration, this week, Tower of Power is 20% off in either the download or physical form.

A 2008 Baylor University study showed that more than half of all Americans claim to have been protected from harm by an angel on at least one occasion.  They could have attributed their happy escapes to luck or coincidence, but they didn’t.  They told researchers that they were helped by angels.

But what exactly is an angel?  We often use the word but we mean different things.  Some men use the word romantically.  Indeed, there are dozens of popular melodies with angel in the title.  Some think of angels as delicate creatures with diaphanous wings.  Others think of specific angels, like Gabriel.

The Bible frequently speaks of angels without describing exactly what they look like. Furthermore, Scripture is deliberately ambiguous about whether angels are human or supernatural. One can see this clearly in the Hebrew.  Take a look at this verse:

And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening

 and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom.

(Genesis 19:1)

Now look at this verse:

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying,

we came to your brother to Esau…

(Genesis 32:6)

The Hebrew word used for “angels” in Genesis 19 and for “messengers” in Genesis 32 is one and the same – Ma-LA-CHim:

That’s right—exactly the same word translates as messenger and angel.

Angels are messengers of God.  At times they are supernatural; but they can also be humans on a mission.  And it makes no difference whether or not those people know that they are acting as messengers of God.

During June and July of 1969, I undertook a grand adventure—a foolhardy motorcycle trip through Africa that surely added gray hairs to my parents.  (Note to Lapin children: Do not try this!)

One day I joined a crowd of villagers to watch the Apollo moon landing on the only black and white TV for miles around.  It had been wedged into a tree and was running off a car battery.  The next day I resumed my travels and arrived at a “cross road”.  It was actually a place where two dirt tracks converged.  My well-planned itinerary had me taking the better-traveled left route to the northwest.

To this day, I don’t know what made me unexpectedly turn right.  All I know is that I felt an almost irresistible tug in that direction.  My machine’s handlebar seemed to swing of its own accord as I leaned into the turn and found myself heading along a rutted track leading I knew not exactly where.

That afternoon I came across a stranded white Ford sedan containing a couple and their two young children.  They had been there for two days and were hungry, tired, and frightened.  Not too many people came along that northeast road.  After poking around under the hood, I discovered that their fuel pump had failed.  Using a piece of rubber I cut from their spare tire’s inner tube, I was able to replace the torn diaphragm of the pump.  They called me their angel, which made me blush. Then they gratefully went on their way. 

On July 21, 1969 God used me as His messenger. The people I helped thought of me as a human angel.  The terminology doesn’t make much difference does it?

For He will send His angels for you, to guard you in all your paths.

Psalms (91:11)

May this always be true for you.

I hope you will take advantage of the last few days that Madam, I’m Adam: Decoding the Marriage Secrets of Eden is on sale. After all, our spouses are certainly messengers from God designed to help each of us reach our full potential.

A year earlier, in September 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich saying,   “…a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor.  I believe it is peace for our time.”  Only one year later German bullets were killing British boys.  

Prime Minister Chamberlain was undeniably an intelligent man.  He had done far better in school and university than had Winston Churchill, yet it was Churchill who in the early 1930s knew that war with Germany was inevitable. 

In politics, as in wealth creation and successful family life, wisdom is far more important than intelligence.  This is great news because there is not much we can do to increase our intelligence, but we can certainly increase our wisdom.

Intelligence governs how quickly one tackles abstract ideas and how rapidly one assimilates and processes data.  Doing this well is certainly helpful in many professions, but it only goes so far.  Being wise means knowing how the world really works.  Intelligence is largely hereditary while wisdom can be gained.  I would like to impart to you the first three steps in gaining wisdom.

The first step is getting to know God.  

The beginning of wisdom is fear of God.

(Psalms 111:10)

Wisdom can be a powerful tool for both good and evil.  Many people are motivated by their understanding of God’s wishes. Others act in ways intended to defy God.  Much of life revolves around spiritual factors like love, trust, faith, optimism, and courage.  Without an understanding of this spiritual side of life it is difficult to function effectively in the real world.

The second step in gaining wisdom is to eschew fantasy and embrace fact.  Read quality non-fiction and accustom yourself to accept people and circumstances as they are rather than as you’d like them to be.  Reduce the amount of time you devote to amusement.  The word ‘amusement’ means ‘without thinking.’  (a = without, as in amoral; and muse = think)  Instead, set aside regular ‘thinking-time’ appointments with yourself.  This not only helps to grow your wisdom, it also makes you happier.  

The third step, and yes I know this is very difficult, is to work on suppressing one’s emotions while trying to analyze a situation.  Let me show you where the Bible elegantly demonstrates this point.  

When Queen Esther invited Haman and the king to a banquet in her chambers (Esther 5:4), this prestigious invitation boosted Haman onto an emotional high.  In his elated mood, being spurned by his nemesis, Mordechai, infuriated him.  When he consulted with his friends (in the Hebrew, OHaVaV, which means ‘those who loved him’) and his wife (Esther 5:10) they giddily embraced both Haman’s euphoria and anger, advising him to hang Mordechai.

Shortly thereafter, Haman was humiliated by the king (Esther 6:10) and he again consulted his wife and friends (again, in the Hebrew text ‘those who loved him’) about this apparent reversal of his fortunes.

And Haman told his wife, Zeresh, and those who loved him, all that had happened, and his wise advisors and Zeresh his wife said to him….

(Esther 6:13)

Abandoning their emotional connection to Haman transforms his sycophantic lovers into wise advisors.  They clinically examine the situation and with wisdom recognize the bad news that his star is descending (Esther 6:13).

Though you cannot increase your Intelligence Quotient, you can increase your Wisdom Quotient.  The first three steps are: (a) invest time in learning to know and fear God; (b) strive to accept reality; and (c) separate your emotions from your thinking. 

One of the most exciting projects I ever worked on was my audio CD, Tower of Power—Decoding the Secrets of Babel.  It is a resource that truly explains some of the rules that God built into the world showing how the world really works.  My prayer is that this teaching becomes a step on your road to wisdom.