Last week we shared about the fundamental and foundational wisdom of following God's word. Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path." For the coming week we will stay in the Proverbs and share Proverbs 1:20-23. The passage says "Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. She calls out to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate. How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish in your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? Come and listen to my counsel. I'll share my heart with you and make you wise!"
In my message on Sunday, I shared that we worship a God that wants to be known. God has given us His Word, sent His Son and filled the world with His Spirit. Yet, we have the habit of leaning on some things that are not godly and are not profitable. Proverbs 1:20-23 asks, "How long!?" A holy God (the one who wants to give us a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path) waits hopefully for us (God's people ... God's Church) to seek His counsel!
I'll take three quick truths from Psalm 119 and Proverbs 1. Here they are!
1) God shouts! An old Out of the Grey song called "He Is Not Silent" says, "He is not silent, he is not whispering, we are not quiet, we are not listening." The gist of the scene in Proverbs 1 is a crowded street, busy with activity and bustling with human pastimes. I can see it in my imagination. Crowds of people being amused, distracted and distant from God. They are shopping, gossiping, sharing their theories about what is wrong with the world. They are posing worldly solutions to spiritual issues. All the while God shouts!
[I can't help chasing the rabbit of the "loafing shed" in Mt. Olivet, Kentucky. It was a place where men gathered in the morning and solved the problems of the world. In Proverbs 1 I can't help thinking about the picture of "mockers" who "relish in their mocking." In the loafing shed, opinion, gossip, speculation, conspiracy, prejudice, and loudness drowned-out wisdom. And (and this is the point) our cities, our nation and our world still have the same issues that plagued us in 1994 when I visited the "loafing shed. Those voices were heard over the shouts of wisdom."]
2) Sometimes God leads our steps. In Psalm 119, "God's word is a lamp to guide our feet." Sure, we want to know it all, all at once! We pray for patience and we want it now! God sends us goodness and wisdom, a little at a time. Maybe God is teaching discipline. Maybe, God is asking us to learn to seek and observe! God does this because God teaches discipline to those He loves (Hebrews 12:6 and Proverbs 3:12). When all I have is a lamp, I must watch where I am placing my feet. Sometimes life is a trail in darkness that doesn't have much light, and sometimes human wisdom disguises itself as light. But God's light is pure, good, patient and just right for the situation. It is just a lamp, but it shouts to us, "I want to direct your steps ... trust me!"
3) Sometimes God lights our way with a shout that is a beacon of light. Lo Alman recites a poem about sharing God in the Harvest. It is a resurrection poem where He says, of Jesus, "You became the darkness that was, and died, so that she (the girl in the poem) would have the brightness of His love." An earthquake. A Centurion that said, "Surely this is the Son of God." Bright angels on a stone that was rolled away. An empty tomb. A Bible lesson on the road to Emmaus. A fire where Jesus cooked breakfast on the side of a lake. A bright and blinding light on the road to Damascus. Maybe you can add your bright light to the list. Shouts in the midst of our foolishness, in the business at the gate of the city.
One of my professors described our lack of attention to God's guidance and "light" as "three blind men feeling around in a cave for a bear that is really there." Let's realize that while we drown out God's wisdom with lots of things, 1) God shouts, 2) sometimes God is a gentle lamp for our way and 3) sometimes, God lights our path with something so bright we have to work to ignore it. My advice? "Come and listen to God's counsel. God will share His heart with you and make you wise!" Randy
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