The Quest for Wisdom A U G U ST 1 3 –1 9 , 2 0 1 8 • KY N DA L L R A E R OT H A U S S C R I P T U R E O V E R V I E W : If you could ask God for one thing, what
would it be? God offered this chance to Solomon, and the king asked for wisdom to rule God’s people well. God honored this request by giving Solomon many other gifts too, as long as the king followed God’s ways. (Later on, unfortunately, Solomon lost his way.) The psalmist tells us that wisdom begins with understanding who we are and who God is. Ephesians addresses practical implications of wise living: follow the will of the Lord, be filled with the Spirit, encourage one another, and be grateful to God. The Gospel passage continues Jesus’ metaphorical description of himself as the bread of heaven. Here Jesus anticipates the sacrament of Communion, in which we partake of his body and blood by faith. QUESTIONS AND THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
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Read 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14. Why are you afraid to ask God to meet your needs or show you your call? Read Psalm 111. What actions dominate your quest for God? Do you remember to stop and delight in God’s love for you? Read Ephesians 5:15-20. How do you make the most of your time with God? How do you show others that you are filled with the Spirit? Read John 6:51-58. In Communion we recall Jesus’ offering of his body and blood. How has that concept been a stumbling block to you?
Pastor, Lake Shore Baptist Church, Waco, Texas.
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MONDAY, AUGUST 13 ! Read 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-5
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olomon follows his father’s instructions with one notable exception—King Solomon offers sacrifices and incense in the high places. In most biblical contexts, such sacrifices were not acceptable, but here Solomon takes it upon himself to diverge and ascend the high places—a syncretism with Canaanite religion we would expect God to condemn. Contrary to expectations, God appears to Solomon, and Solomon appears to have pleased the Lord. “Ask for whatever you want me to give you,” God begins—which is a rather generous offer, even from God. Could it be that location and form are not as important as the sincerity and intention of the seeker? Perhaps an idolatrous place for one person is a portal of divine access for another. We do not usually think of the God of the Old Testament as being loose with the boundaries, and yet here God is, showing up in the forbidden place without reservation and bearing unrestricted gifts. Sometimes when we need an answer, we feel we must know the right way to ask or the right place to look, and we end up paralyzed by our own uncertainty. Instead of climbing the mountain to pray, we stay in bed and hide. We’d rather avoid success than risk retribution. When we feel disposed to hide, we remember the rookie king who breaks from his father’s tradition to do his own kind of search and to offer his own kind of prayer. To his great surprise, God answers. What drives Solomon to depart from the way set before him by a “man after God’s own heart?” Is it curiosity? adventure? discontent? The most important step in the quest for wisdom is to begin. O God of surprise appearances, help me ascend to the high places of the heart to search for you without fear of judgment or failure. Amen.
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 14 ! Read 1 Kings 3:3-14
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e could paraphrase many of our prayers in this way: “God, get down here and fix it.” We commonly plead for God to end our pain, suffering, conflict, or threat from an enemy. These prayers can build up a lot of spiritual resentment in us when God fails to appear on command like a genie out of a lamp to give us what we want. However, Solomon does not ask to get out of anything. He does not bemoan the difficulty of the work or request a rescue. He doesn’t seem to expect miracles or even special treatment as king. He does not lash out at God because his father is dead or because his father wasn’t around enough when he was alive. Instead, he expresses gratitude for the many kindnesses God has shown him, and he asks for wisdom and discernment to face the challenges ahead. While I am certain God can handle it when we rage at God because of unanswered prayers and while I believe it is better to be honest with God than untruthfully modest and compliant, we may be better served to pause our demands of God and reevaluate our expectations. Is God the giver of an easy life or the giver of strength and wisdom? Is God is in the business of making shortcuts or making hard things possible? In this moment, will I ask for deliverance or for wisdom? God of wisdom, I do not know how to carry out my work in the world. Give your servant a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong. Help me to seek not only solutions but wisdom. Amen.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15 ! Read Psalm 111
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onder, delight, remember, extol. The psalmist employs these four verbs (as translated in the New International Version) in today’s psalm. Do these encompass what it means to fear the Lord? To fear the Lord is to ponder and wonder about God’s presence in the world; to suspect that behind every blessing, every sunrise and budding flower, God works. To fear the Lord is to delight in every gift, however small or predictable, and not to take for granted our ordinary and daily gifts. To fear the Lord is to remember and call to mind God’s wonders—whether it be a story or a place in nature or a memory of feeling most alive. To fear the Lord is to extol, to celebrate all that is good. When we extol the Lord, remember God’s wonders, delight in the Lord, and ponder God’s power, we begin to find wisdom. When searching for wisdom, it is counterintuitive to stop in the middle of the hunt and throw a party. But the psalmist reminds us that celebration and praise are essential to life. In order to continue growing, we remember and name what we have learned already. To find our way out of the dark, we give thanks for the light we have been given. To be wise, we embrace the vulnerability of joy. Grief expands the contented soul while joy enriches the soul that is in turmoil. O God of magnificent works and tiny miracles, I pause and give thanks for the wisdom, the mercy, and the gifts you have already given. Your grace has carried me before, and your grace will carry me again. For the moment, that is all I need to know. When I look back, I remember that I did not blaze that trail alone. Though I cannot see more than a step ahead, I know you are clearing the way for me. Amen.
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 16 ! Read Psalm 111:10
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ften in life, our fears obstruct our wisdom. Fears—flaming, screaming, whimpering distractions—keep us from our path. Fear is so often the enemy of what is good. This is why the scriptures tell us, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7, NKJV). We are assured that “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Yet we know the brave are not always fearless. They are often very afraid and for good reason, but they act upon their conviction anyway. Perhaps wise people simply know how to prioritize their fears. They are not fearless, but they fear some things less than others. A wise person may think, I fear the loss of my integrity more than I fear the loss of a job. I fear the loss of self more than I fear the consequences of being true to myself. I fear a loveless life more than I fear the pain of loving. I fear the regret of not doing this brave thing more than I fear the risk of doing it. I fear being silenced more than I fear being disliked. Perhaps the beginning of wisdom lives in an explicitly Christian version of these statements: I fear denying God, not because I am afraid of punishment or wrath but because I know I could miss out on adventure, meaning, and purpose. Courageous God, it is scary to follow your way of radical love. Help me to be less afraid of the consequences and difficulties of fidelity to your path and more afraid of missing out on what is good and right and true. If there is no escaping fear in this life, grant me the wisdom to know which fears can guide me and which fears obstruct my walk of faith. Amen.
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 ! Read Ephesians 5:15-17
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t is difficult to make the most of every opportunity when we worry about the future. It is difficult to make the most of every opportunity when we spend time reliving the past. Wisdom requires that we be present, that we show up—not in a perfunctory way but in a fully engaged way that reveals our understanding of the Lord’s will. The wise are awake to the presence of Christ in world around them. Ephesians 5:14 calls to us, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Today’s passage does not mean that we have to squeeze every last ounce of juice out of life or else we’ve wasted it. We could expend so much energy squeezing that we never taste or savor or admire! Rather than “making the most of every opportunity” by measuring how much we accomplish, we can mark our time by how we seek to understand God’s will. Production and achievement don’t necessarily indicate that we’re living well. Even Jesus rested, prayed, and broke bread with his disciples. He could have spent every spare moment healing others, but his more reflective actions show us another way to make the most of our time. Making the most of our time is unique to each opportunity— sometimes we have the opportunity to be silent, sometimes the opportunity to speak. We can take the time to rest well when we are given the opportunity. Seeking to understand the Lord’s will helps us discern the way to make the most of every opportunity: whether to rest or to work, to play or to create. O God of opportunity and giver of choices, help me discern your will. Free me from enslavement to automatic impulses and unexamined habits. Grant me the freedom to be fully alive. Grant me wisdom. Amen.
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 18 ! Read Ephesians 5:15-20
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et drunk on God, on music, on conversation—this is what God’s word recommends, especially when the days are evil. Unlike being drunk on wine, this sort of intoxication isn’t a form of escapism but a form of engagement, a way to resist, and a communal pledge to keep going. Think of African American spirituals—which are scripture and music and Spirit and community and resistance all rolled into one—and hear them bellowing through the streets during the Civil Rights Movement. Then you can see what I mean about empowerment versus escapism. The days indeed were evil, but God’s people “spoke to one another with psalms, and hymns, and songs from the Spirit,” and God’s people prevailed. Recently after a national tragedy that left many of us rattled and afraid and feeling betrayed, some friends gathered together and made handmade love notes for our congregation. Men and women cut out hearts, glued construction paper, and wrote messages using words of scripture or song lyrics or simple declarations of love. We ate cookies and listened to music and sipped a bit. But mostly we filled up on love, hope, resistance, friendship, and Christ. We didn’t change the world that day or overturn the days of evil. But we faced the times with heart and compassion and creativity, which felt a whole lot like understanding the will of the Lord. God of justice, we know you see the suffering that exists all around us, and we confess there are days we feel swallowed up by it all and wish for a means of escape, a way to feel numb, a place to hide. But with music and song, community and friendship, you draw us back into the world to do our work. Thank you. Amen.
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SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 ! Read John 6:51-58
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hen Jesus starts talking about his body as bread and his blood as drink, the people are understandably perplexed, and perhaps a bit mortified. The apostle Paul explains it this way, “Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:22-24). Indeed, the Cross is where we are likely to trip up on our quest for wisdom because it is all so odd, and yet believers find the center of faith and a deep source of wisdom in this mystery. It is illogical and nearly incomprehensible that God would become flesh, that God would empty Godself of glory, that God would willingly suffer and die, and that death would become the portal to life everlasting. Yet we reenact and celebrate this process again and again in the life of the church. God’s seeming recklessness initiates our salvation. The church’s practice of Communion is one of the more peculiar activities we participate in together as we receive God’s mystical gift by approaching the table with our bodies. Most days we try to approach God with our minds, and wisdom escapes us. During Communion we approach God with our full and humble selves, and the wisdom enters us through the flesh and blood of Christ. God of Mystery, I may never fully untangle who you are or why you do as you do. Grant me not the answers I want but the wisdom I need. O Christ, help me understand what it means for you to be human not so I can master knowledge but so I can live as you lived. O Living Spirit, guide me down the right path, even when I do not understand the instructions or perceive the reasons. Amen.
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