We live in a world where people are so intent on their own ideas. Somehow they believe that their thoughts and feelings are all that matters. Why listen to the call of wisdom and truth? Does it matter after all? Why does the book of Proverbs place wisdom as one crying out to all of humanity to listen? Ravi Zacharias often said:
We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right
Adolf Hitler annihilated millions of Jews, believing he was right. But that did not make his evil any less evil. Humanity is running headlong into its own destruction. We place so much emphasis on everyone’s right to believe whatever they feel to be right with no accountability to knowing truth. Most of the time we don’t even want to consider truth. If everything philosophically is relative, then there remains no concept of right or wrong and no guiding principle. But have we not perpetrated this on ourselves?
Time line in The United States
“In the 1950s kids lost their innocence.
They were liberated from their parents by well-paying jobs, cars, and lyrics in music that gave rise to a new term —the generation gap.
In the 1960s, kids lost their authority.
It was a decade of protest—church, state, and parents were all called into question and found wanting. Their authority was rejected, yet nothing ever replaced it.
In the 1970s, kids lost their love. It was the decade of me-ism dominated by hyphenated words beginning with self.
Self-image, Self-esteem, Self-assertion….It made for a lonely world. Kids learned everything there was to know about sex and forgot everything there was to know about love, and no one had the nerve to tell them there was a difference.
In the 1980s, kids lost their hope.
Stripped of innocence, authority and love and plagued by the horror of a nuclear nightmare, large and growing numbers of this generation stopped believing in the future.
In the 1990s kids lost their power to reason. Less and less were they taught the very basics of language, truth, and logic and they grew up with the irrationality of a postmodern world.
In the new millennium, kids woke up and found out that somewhere in the midst of all this change, they had lost their imagination. Violence and perversion entertained them till none could talk of killing innocents since none was innocent anymore.”
― Ravi Zacharias, Recapture the Wonder
But If God is Sovereign then How are we to blame?
Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; nor is His ear heavy that He cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you. So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. (And) your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice. Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. Isaiah 59:1-4
Yes, God is Sovereign and if He were to command all to be saved—it would be so! But is that an act of love! Would that be just? When humanity wants to merely spit in His face? After all He came to the earth; but men preferred darkness. Would it be an act of love to force those who want nothing to do with Him to spend an eternity with Him?
Furthermore, how could you ever love or desire Him if you never saw the difference? And without learning what perfect love is, how can we ever love fully, truly with a heart free from selfish desire? Have you not noticed that the more we have of things and entertainment, the less content we are?
Children who have everything with no responsibility, are only angry filled with a sense of entitlement. If great wealth or things could bring happiness, why are some of the most unhappy those who have wealth and an abundance of things? Does not suicide run rampant among those who have the most?
Truth: the only one who can truly fulfill our hearts is God Himself.
C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity.
“The Christian says, ‘Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.
If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death. (Never must I) let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.”
So, with that in mind, let’s look at
The call of Wisdom and Truth
Proverbs 8 Does not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
2 She takes her stand on the top of the [a]high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
4 “To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men. (to all of humanity).
God has not ceased to call us nor to listen to our cries. Though there will come a day when He says, “Now, it is time”. Then Christ will appear and call forth all His own. The age of tribulation will come. Though we may think we are already there, that age will be worse than anything we have known before. Then when those 7 years are completed, the millennial reign of Christ will begin while Satan and all His demons are chained. But the saddest part of all is when you read Revelations 15, there will still be some who rebel against God and join the evil forces. This despite Satan having had no influence on earth for a thousand.
The Call of Wisdom and Truth to Discern Rightly:
5 O you [b]simple ones, understand prudence,
And you fools, be of an understanding (discerning) heart.
6 Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things;
7 For my mouth will speak truth;
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;
Nothing crooked or perverse is in them.
9 They are all plain to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
We must seek truth above all else. Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life.” Without Him we cannot know truth. Yet, with Him and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we learn what is true righteousness and discernment. We must gain knowledge of Him to know what is right or wrong.
The Call of Wisdom and Truth: More precious than Gold
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choice gold;
11 For wisdom is better than rubies,
And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And find out knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, I have strength.
When we hear the call, we do need to heed that call and seek God’s wisdom more than anything else. Nothing is more important or precious than knowing Him intimately and letting Him guide your life.
The Call of Wisdom and Truth: God’s Sovereignty
15 By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles,
All the judges of [c]the earth.
God does choose every leader of every nation. In the end God’s plan will be accomplished and we can trust in that fact. That was true of the Babylonian Empire, the Jewish Nations rise and falls, the Mede-Persians, the Romans, and all that has happened throughout history. Hence we must honestly see history, never hiding or changing it. Rather allowing it to teach us that everytime we turn our eyes away from God, we will fall. God is not taken by surprise with all that is going on. Rather, He is suffering by allowing the evil to play out because He loves all who will be His so much! He waits until they come.
17 I love those who love me,
And those who seek me diligently will find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,
And my revenue than choice silver.
20 I [d]traverse the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
The Call of Wisdom and Truth from before the Creation of Earth
22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23 I have been established from everlasting,
From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was brought forth;
26 While as yet He had not made the earth or the [e]fields,
Or the [f]primal dust of the world.
27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 When He established the clouds above,
When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
29 When He assigned to the sea its limit,
So that the waters would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth.
The Call of Wisdom and Truth: God’s tool and attribute
30 Then I was beside Him as [g]a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.
The Call of Wisdom and Truth to come:
32 “Now therefore, listen to me, my children,
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the Lord;
36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death.”
So, let it be my desire as was that of Ravi Zacharias, “My longings, my hopes, my dreams, and my every effort has been to live for Him who rescued me, to study for Him who gave me this mind, to serve Him who fashioned my will, and to speak for Him who gave me a voice.”
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2020
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.