Wisdom 9:14-18. Our reasoning is worthless and our designs are likely to fail because our perishable body weighs down our soul. "We can hardly guess at what is on earth, and what is at hand we find with labor." Who has actually traced out the heavens? Who has learned God's counsel unless given wisdom by the Holy Spirit? Only by that wisdom were men's paths made straight and did we learn what pleased God.

It seems it has always been a confusing world, it's just that the source of our confusion changes. Solomon writes how man (in his time) hardly knew what was on earth and even the things near to him that he needed he had to expend much labor to obtain. Then, men's days were filled with labor in order to provide for their needs. When they had time to think and reason they could only make small progress because they did not have enough information.

Today we have a much different confusion, but we are confused nonetheless. Our confusion comes from not having to labor for our needs (a form of idleness), and from too much information at our fingertips - information that has been filtered through a narrative in most cases and massaged into telling a falsehood, not God's truth. So just like then our reasoning is worthless and our designs liable to fail.

We truly need to step back from the "input" all around us from TV, phones, internet, etc, and seek alone time with God. Only then will we get the true input we need - wisdom from the Holy Spirit. In his letter, Saint James tells us to ask for wisdom in faith, not in doubt, for "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." That is us, now.

We are being tossed about by whatever forces are vying for our money, emotions, time, our very selves, and none of them are God. God is calm, quiet, and loving, we will not find him in the noise. We must seek him out as and ask for wisdom. Only then will our paths be set right and we will know what pleases him.