Seeking Lady Wisdom
All of us want to be needed, to be loved, to be important to someone or several someones. I remember when Sherri and I first began dating. She had gone through a difficult breakup just a year or two before we met, and she was wounded, feeling rejected, unneeded, uncared for. So, when I told her for the first time that I loved her, it scared her. Scared her because she was afraid of being wounded and let down again.
God set her free from those fears, but it didn’t hurt that I pursued her diligently and passionately. I demonstrated to Sherri just how much I loved her and how badly I needed her. And when I “popped the question” - which occurred in the parking lot of the Atlanta airport, she responded, saying, “Yes!
How badly do you want me? That’s the question God is asking you and me. Not because He’s needy. He’s not. He’s God. But because he wants you and me to come to the place where the most important thing in our lives is His presence, His person, His grace leading us as we navigate this wonderful but often challenging and difficult thing called life.
Season Five of our Church on the Edge podcasts is entitled “Pearls of Great Price.” If you listened to last Friday’s podcast, you recall I talked about seeking that pearl of great price, which is nothing less than God’s wisdom for our lives. And that seeking is always the result of our understanding of how spiritually impoverished we are.
Give us this day our daily bread. The words Jesus taught us to pray are more than a request for physical food. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And it is only those who hunger and thirst for it that receive God’s righteousness, the understanding of God’s wisdom and ways.
Distractions are the enemy of God’s wisdom. And distractions are the norm in our lives. Work, children, iPads, and cell phones; there are so many things that clamor for our attention and pull our thoughts away from God. That’s why we must make a clear and decisive choice to pursue God and His wisdom.
It was Albert Einstein who said that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. It’s so easy to get caught up on life’s treadmill, trapped in the rat race, and realizing the rats are winning.
That’s why Lady Wisdom, as she is described in the book of Proverbs, cries out to us, calling us to seek her. Lady Wisdom is a metaphor for God’s blessing and grace that come to those who seek Him.
As a young man, I cried out for God’s wisdom. I wanted it. Badly. And God answered my prayer. I’ll be sharing a little of that story in this week’s podcast. I hope you will take the time to listen.
Meanwhile, let me conclude this post by asking you - how badly do you want the wisdom that God offers to all who seek it?
Let me promise you, based on the Word of God and my own experience, God’s wisdom is waiting for you. All you have to do is ask.
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.
You can listen to my weekly messages at Embrace Church, High Point.