She's calling your name

19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He established the heavens; ²⁰ By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.

²¹ My son, let them not depart from your eyes— Keep sound wisdom and discretion; ²² So they will be life to your soul And grace to your neck.  Proverbs, chapter 3

            Within my heart and mind is the knowledge that if I spent more quiet time with God, I would certainly have more access to His direction in my daily life.  I have lots of ideas; and know that if I made listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit a priority, how to accomplish them all would become clear. 

                This morning, as I was reading Proverbs, I was reminded of this again.  I’ve often thought that wisdom is presented as a feminine attribute of God’s character, because the writer of Proverbs frequently refers to “Wisdom” as “She”.  I think it is a good balance of some of the masculine attributes expressed by David and writers of Psalms—that of a mighty warrior, a Holy Oracle. 

               

                As God’s creation, we reflect God’s desire to put the world to rights.  When the world was first created, God made everything beautiful, uncorrupted, healthy.  But man was given the opportunity to choose the knowledge of good and evil.   And we have struggled since—with injustice, selfishness, cruelty.  The evil brought darkness, illness, perversion.  I’ve heard it said that our Holy God creates, but Satan-incapable of creating-can only corrupt

In the midst of this world of suffering,  Human-kind has yearned for forgiveness, restoration, healing and health.  Even when people don’t believe in God, or have a Christian faith, there is a strong desire to set the world back in order.  This is reflected in things like:

·         engineers who design wells for water in desert countries;

·          doctors who travel to places of war and natural disasters in order to treat those who are injured;

·         Advocates as they seek to change laws, raise awareness of and rescue the abused, neglected and oppressed

·         Scientist who research drugs to fight AIDS, Cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, diabetes, etc.

·         Politicians who seek to bring peace through arbitration, negotiation and promotion of democracy

It seems to me that religion is seen by a majority of people in the world as a tool to put the world back to rights.  Through religion we begin to learn about right, wrong, compassion, generosity, reverence, respect.  Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, as well as other religions teach about the necessity of making peace with God, and living in harmony with each other. 

The Apostle Paul wrote that the law serves to teach us what sin is, but grace empowers us to live a life that overcomes sin. 

                God instilled into our souls the desire, the passionate yearning for peace, order and joy.  The soul’s hunger drives the mind to seek for knowledge, for answers to suffering and pain.  There are those in the world whose minds are numbed against the understanding that in searching to unlock the mysteries of brokenness in the world, we are in essence seeking to find God.  In the revealing of nature, God’s goodness is silently, patiently, consistently speaking.  His voice is the voice of Wisdom:

"20: Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. ²¹ She cries out in the chief concourses,^[b] At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:"

Proverbs, chapter 1