(Further reflections on “Counsel”—Sunday 27-Feb-2022)
When God’s instructions were given out to His people, it is always expected to be carried out wholeheartedly. God also knows how man was made and how they had fallen. He also knows that without the Savior, Jesus Christ, no one can make it. Though our salvation is Christ Jesus, our foolishness has a long way to go. Why? It is because though we may be quick to say ‘amen’ (yes, I agree and will do it), we tend to be slow to make what we heard the reality in our life. God knows and understands this. This is why, in His love, He doesn’t give up, and He continues to do one thing that we all dislike or hate most of (if not all the) time, that is, correction. Most Christians seem to be in good terms with God’s instructions that match their ‘acceptance’. Almost all of us do not naturally like God’s correction or discipline. The crux of the matter is here. God’s wisdom needs to be heard, heeded, carried out, and His discipline/correction is to be expected and welcomed. This is why fools keep hating knowledge (of God); scoffers keep delighting in their scoffing (at God’s instructions), for they perhaps don’t care about God’s judgement as they very likely look down at God’s deliverance; and the ‘simple’ (naive/open-minded) ones keep leaving their life’s option open as commitment seems to be their hardest word (cf. Proverbs 1:22). We saw God’s people laughed at God’s good news to them (e.g. Sarah); despised God’s promise to the firstborn (e.g. Esau sold his birthright); and left their option open (e.g. Lot and his wife did not immediately heed God’s message of destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah); didn’t fully believe in the announcement of the birth of the Messiah/Christ (e.g. Zechariah got muted); and there are countless examples in the Bible as well as in our life if we are being honest.
God’s wisdom is alive and active. It is like a person whom we need to get to know and spend time to build a good rapport. She (God’s wisdom being personified as a lady) raises her voice and cries out, calling God’s people to stay fully alert in their dealings in the public places (cf. Proverbs 1:20-21), i.e. market places, offices, schools, factories, entertainment space (on/offline), etc. Thus, our thoughts and feelings need to be directed and shaped by Her as well as our action and re-action need to be corrected from time to time as we want to be disciplined from our natural tendency of naïveté, scoffing, and foolishness. And we are warned that “the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them” (Proverbs 1:32) and assured that whoever “listens to me [God’s wisdom] will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Now in order to make God’s wisdom active and alive in our life, we need spend time to reflect on our past/present issues/problems in your life and check to see if they were/are fallen into one of the deadly trio: naïveté, scoffing, and foolishness. It’s likely that more or less we all have it, so we should talk to the Lord and reconcile with Him. And finally, we should humbly reorient our life accordingly.
May the Spirit sanctify our spirit, souls (mind, will, emotion), and body as we welcome God’s instructions and corrections for our life through the reading and teaching of God’s word. Amen.
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Pastor Lap
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