Post Sunday Devotional Sunday June 22 2008

“Wisdom has built her house…She cries out from the highest places of the city,…come, eat of my bread…Forsake foolishness and live…” Proverbs 9:1,3,5-6

“A foolish woman is clamorous;…on a seat by the highest places of the city, to call to those who pass by…stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell.” Various parts of Proverbs 9:13-18

Chapter 9 of Proverbs is the crossroads of the book. As we have studied the book was compiled to a son, compiled to shape the character of a nation by drawing from and living by the great wisdom of King Solomon, that was most certainly endowed upon him by God Himself (1 Kings 3:11-12). It is wisdom to meditate on as we travel the roads of life. It is wisdom to recall when faced with both crucial and seemingly menial decisions in our day to day lives. It is wisdom that will assist us in living our lives pleasing to God.

Chapter 9 reveals wisdom and folly in a way that speaks to us point blank and invites us to choose a life and lifestyle. Wisdom and folly (the life of a fool and scoffer) are personified and given life. Recall from chapter 1 that the book is written in terms of a father to a son, thus wisdom and folly are given female character. Thus the invitation will be both at times sensuous and attractive. (remembering that the book is written to a male will help you understand the regular references to females in both a negative and positive sense, don’t be offended imagine a letter written to a female obviously it would be different…) The call by both will cause our eyes, ears and possibly hearts to turn toward the invitation. The question is which invitation will we accept?

Many today believe they can accept both invitations. God communicates in the Old Testament that this is not possible. “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 (Also for a good example of this read Joshua chapter 24). Jesus clearly communicated the same thing in the New Testament as well in Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (money).”

It is not as Hannah Montana sings it “the best of both worlds.” (Was that wise to include Hannah Montana in a devotion? Discuss amongst yourselves…) The call is coming to live at the table with God or to live at the table without Him. Both woman wisdom and woman folly speak from the “high places.” The high places during that time were reserved for God’s temple. The place reserved for worship of God Himself. In days of old in our own country the church was placed in the center of a community and its steeple higher than any other building in town. All eyes were to be drawn to it and to God. Both call from those high places not just seeking our audience, but purchasing our audience for good. It is an invitation to dinner which in the times of the ancient Israelites meals were intimate occasions. Both desire us to be intimate with them, both desire our very lives.

Who have you chosen to dine with? Who have you chosen to live with? Are you under the belief that you can eat at both tables? Our careful study of Proverbs will help immensely in determining the table we are about to sit at. It isn’t always just the intelligent or the well to do that are at the table of the wise. For woman wisdom cries out to the “simple.” Those that may not know a lot but are wise enough to listen. In fact even the wise are commended for their ability to continue to listen to instruction and rebuke. (Proverbs 9:8-9)

Evil is very deceptive for it makes the stolen sweet and the secret “pleasures” pleasant. Yet little do we know at the table of folly amongst all its false beauty sit the “dead” and “guests” from the “depths of hell.” (we aren’t talking about your Uncle from Sheboygan) That’s pretty scary. Evil must make itself look attractive for it too cries out to the simple, it too calls forth to the same crowd.

Each day you will be confronted with these two invitations. It may come in the form of the call of the TV or a website when contrasted with the call to sit and read this devotion for example. It may come in the form of an invitation from a friend to a club to “simply” hang out verses an opportunity to be with your parents. The invitations are numerous and they will all seem to be the best invitation from the highest of places at that particular time and place in our lives.

We’ve all sadly watched many leave a good job for a higher paying job thinking that the good life is ahead only to find the higher paying job strip them of all they once loved. We’ve watched relationships end because one of the parties involved in the relationship heeded the call to another relationship promising fulfillment only to find that too rob them of vitality and freedom. As Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade taught us “But choose wisely for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.” Choose wisely.

Woman Folly beautiful. Beautifully deceptive and will take life from you from right under your nose.

Woman Wisdom confident in her ability yet not arrogant, strong yet gentle and “for by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you.” Proverbs 9:11

Questions to Ask Yourself

Look back on some of the major decisions you’ve made in your life. Would you identify them with Woman Wisdom or Woman Folly?

What decisions will you be making in the near future? How are you going to seek out Woman Wisdom in making those decisions? (Read Proverbs 9:10)

Do you find yourself trying to eat at both tables?