“Wisdom calls out in the streets; she raises her voice in the open squares.” Proverbs 1:20.

It may have occurred that as we open the Bible, the book of Psalms come in an instant. I have read Psalms more than Proverbs as a child only to escape the guilt of avoiding my daily devotion to God. As I come across Proverbs, my eyes roll over from chapter one to chapter three. I overtake the first four verses to get into more deeper content in verse five – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding.” The irony here is that as a Christian we tend to do both by ourselves – We trust in our abilities; and we trust more in our understanding, overriding what the Bible says on how to lean on God’s plan for our lives. The verse is great but the application is less. God speaks to us through the Spirit and a great deal of what he says gets missed; like noise in a classroom. When the mind gets too shrouded with worldly desires, we miss our aim. Along with it, we miss a gift – heavenly wisdom. This blog post is about how we miss that heavenly call; the one that God that already ordained for us.

Wisdom calls

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” – Proverbs 9:10.

One day at work, God reminded me how the Bible says that wisdom shouts at us. What lead to the thought was the battle I keep facing in defending the truth; how God’s Word is right compared to what my church says is right. Growing up in a traditional church in India, I grew up with the stories of David, Samson, Daniel etc from the Old Testament. And then came Jesus, Paul and the rest of the New Testament heroes who defended Christianity till they paid it with their lives. I was a regular Sunday School kid; I loved Jesus more and I longed to see Him. Things started to change as I grew up. Sound logical explanations about the Bible were missing. Everybody just tried to fit into the social network that they had built. I was appalled how the church could manipulate doctrines in the Bible and justify it easily with biblical explanations that contradicted the Bible itself. I was in a dilemma; either the church was right or the Bible was right. Life was just going on as usual. God definitely had a plan. He decided to move in me and I got saved. The rest was in my hands, how I carefully used my free will over God’s will.

A quote from C. S. Lewis, an apologist is written below:
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice, there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek, find. To those who knock, it is opened.”

Wisdom keeps calling us and the Holy Spirit guides in that wisdom. If wisdom was worn as garland around our neck, I wouldn’t have written this blog post. Wisdom easily calls us. People who find it are rare.
Many churches becoming activity-oriented rather than mission-oriented. Having a Spirit-filled life became shameful for many as it would lower their prestige by clapping hands and singing praises louder to God. David was dancing and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord – 2 Samuel 6:16. The church that was to bind and mold people couldn’t clearly function that way anymore because more people were molding the church to suit their needs. Clearly, many are in the dark about how to receive salvation. The Gospel clearly had become a thing to debate on and for quiz competitions. Nothing about it became visible in their lives. Using the wisdom given to us is at our discretion. Wisdom calls out on the streets, every now and then. How then do we heed to it’s voice?

Where it all begins

Our primary call comes from Mark 16:15 – “Go and preach the gospel to all nations”. It is a clear call for any individual or a church to be mission-oriented. With that command, eleven disciples in addition to Paul and the others set out to change the world preaching the good news to all the Jews and Gentiles alike. Here we notice one thing – Nothing was compromised. Not a single word. They had clearly seen Jesus; the miracles he performed and the mysteries of heaven were all unfolded which they heard with their own ears. They stood before the Creator witnessing first hand each and every aspect of Jesus’s life. That was the life the Eleven were chosen to witness so that the rest could BELIEVE. 2 Corinthians 5:7 reads “We walk by faith; not by sight”.

“Wisdom always shouts but the will power has to come from within us”.

The key in applying wisdom about God’s truth rests with each one of us. We cannot evict ourselves from the responsibility that God’s call rests in us. We try to rest in the comfort zone but that cannot go for long. God’s calling rests in me and you. Step by step, He can guide us in taking the right path.

Clearly the Bible says that each one us will have a different call in Ephesians 4:11-13 –

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

The Race is Still On!

Heeding to the Spirit, listening to it’s voice and conforming to the principles of the Bible is by far the best thing we can do. We may visit people asking for guidance and still miss our objective but obedience to the Word can teach us a lot more in a second.

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:1-3

I would like to encourage you to run that race and spread the gospel like wildfire. Be a testimony, stay encouraged and never lose faith. God sustains both the weak and the strong.

God bless each one us in fulfilling his missions in our lives. Amen!

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