Monday, January 5, 2009

Reflections From The Proverbs

Wisdom’s Reward
Proverb Chapter 1
20. Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares;
21. At the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:
22. "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?
23. If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.

In these verses wisdom is given a personality and a voice to speak to us. She wants to be heard. She wants to be found. Wisdom does not hide from us. She makes herself available to us. We only have to open our ears to hear her. She points out that mankind seems to like a wisdom-less life. I think it could boil down to an attitude of "no one is going to tell me what to do." We are like toddlers demanding "I do it myself". It even reminds me of the words of Jesus that men like darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. People tend to want to be accountable only to themselves.
What powerful words are found in verse 23. If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. We know that the wisdom-giver is God. We were told back in verse 7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline".
The word "fool" here refers to one who is deficient morally. Wisdom says, if you would not be a fool, if you would get off of your high horse of self importance and bend your knee to the authority and sovereignty of God I would pour my heart and mind into you. Wow!
Why do we find it so difficult to put God in his rightful place and put ourselves in our rightful place, especially when the rewards are so great. Why? Because it takes faith to give up control of our lives. Hebrews 11:6 says: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
We must believe that He exists, and that He is personally interested in us individually. He promises that if we seek him with our whole heart we will find him. Having the heart and mind of God poured into our life is a reward of priceless value. Don’t settle for a life without the blessing of wisdom poured into your life, a life without the heart and mind of God poured out into your life.
Ask God to help you keep Him in that place of sovereign authority. If you struggle with faith and trust issues, ask God to increase your faith. It is the desire of his heart for you to have a strong faith and trust in him. It is a prayer He will be glad to answer. It is the desire of his heart to pour out his heart and mind into you. I pray that we will be a nation of wisdom hungry people.

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