Tag: wisdom

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Wisdom, Let Us Attend!

Wisdom, Let Us Attend

“Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.”

Wisdom 2:19

Wisdom Old Books

It’s only one more week till Good Friday, a day which no doubt is one of our high holy days as disciples of Jesus. We mark special days and times with special readings of scripture, so that we may ‘enter in’ with our spirits, to the very remembrance of what we celebrate. In our ‘entering in’, we hope to see anew our souls as they are before God. We seek to hear Jesus’ words to them then, as His words to us today. We want Him to search us and see if there is any wicked way in us (Psalm 139:23), that we may repent and be saved.

Holy Week, which begins on Palm Sunday, is one of those times we ‘enter in’ to such remembrances. Today we reflect on one of the readings of scripture for next week on Good Friday. However, the scripture is not one you may have heard before as it comes from what many Protestants call the ‘Apocrypha’ – The Book of Wisdom.

In our ‘entering in’, we hope to see anew our souls as they are before God.

Such books were set aside for holy reading, but not viewed as inspired by the some of the Protestant Reformers, which was a departure from the historic view of those books by both, Western and Eastern Christians. Whatever your opinion may be on what should or should not be a part of the Canon of Scripture, one thing is certain; you can’t read the Book of Wisdom and not see its inspired prophetic tone.

Wisdom, chapter two, is voiced as the thoughts of the evil men who put Jesus to death. Their thoughts speak of how they detest Jesus for what they see Him as, a self-righteousness man who professes special knowledge and condemned their ways:

12 ‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child* of the Lord.

Wisdom 2:12-13

In their evil thoughts, those who condemned Jesus to death, didn’t realize how prophetic they were. Jesus is ‘the righteous man’, ‘the Messiah’. They saw Jesus as, “…inconvenient”. I pray we never see Jesus and His ways as an ‘inconvenience’, but I’m afraid we often do. How many times do we put off His urgings to us and dismiss them as just our own contriving’s? Jesus’ words do bring conviction to our souls if our hearts are open. Sadly, we know many hearts are not open to the Spirit of God.

As you prepare for Holy Week, I invite you to read Wisdom chapter two. You can read the entire chapter here. Listen for the voices of evil and notice how contemporary they are to the thoughts of so many today. Jesus challenged their way of living and thinking then, as He still does ours today.

In the ancient liturgies of Eastern Christianity, before scripture is read, the Reader chants out, “Wisdom, let us attend!” Let us attend to the wisdom of the Word today. May Jesus search us today and see if there be any wicked way in us… and let us repent, that He may turn our ashes into beauty.

Shalom for a Holy Lent,

Pastor Brad

Image credit: https://www.ubiquityuniversity.org/wisdom-school/GreatBooks.htm

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The Truth About Wisdom and Fear

 

Serve the LORD with fear, with trembling, kiss his feet, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2:11-12

Wisdom is highly valued in every society. But, what is wisdom really? Is it the accumulation of much knowledge? Perhaps in a sense it is. Or, is wisdom the ability to use common sense in everyday life? Some people are said to be wise in “street smarts”, or from the “school of hard knocks”, where they were educated in such common sense wisdom. Whatever wisdom is, it must have a beginning, a time when we really begin to learn. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the beginning of wisdom is when we “fear” God.

Psalm 2 teaches us just why fear of God is where all wisdom begins. In the Psalm, the Lord (vs. 2) is God the Father, but the voice of the Psalm is Jesus, the Son who was begotten of the Father (vs. 7). The Father has given the world and all that is in it, kings and kingdoms, rulers and authorities, over to the Son as His inheritance. Fear of God will always lead us to love Him, because we will see how much He has loved us through the giving of His Son.

It seems there are many to fear in this world; criminals, terrorist, evil rulers. Yet, in all of these things there is really only One whom we must fear, One who is greater, One who rules with all wisdom and authority because the world is His and He made it:

“Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens. It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.…” Jer. 10:11-12

So, how do we live in this world and not fear the, “terror that stalks by night, or the arrow that flies by day” (Ps 91)? By learning to develop a healthy fear of God our Father, which only comes as we grow in relationship to Him as He is revealed to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. And, by learning to know Jesus as the Good Shepherd how watches over His sheep (Jn 10). In verses 11-12 the Psalmist admonishes us to, “be instructed” and to “lay hold of His instruction”. If we fail to learn from Jesus we may, “perish from the righteous way” (vs. 12).

Do you have a healthy fear of God? Are you being instructed by Him as you walk through your everyday life? I hope so. Fearing God and learning from Him are the hallmarks of an intentional disciple of Jesus. Remember, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”, for they are truly wise.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Brad

image credit: http://aneshwithword4mgod.blogspot.com/2012/03/do-you-fear-him.html