Wisdom's Call: 30 Days in the House of LifeVoorbeeld

THE VALUE OF OBEDIENCE

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; he repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not turned from my God to wickedness. Indeed, I let all his ordinances guide me and have not disregarded his statutes. I was blameless toward him and kept myself from my iniquity. So the Lord repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. With the faithful you prove yourself faithful, with the blameless you prove yourself blameless, with the pure you prove yourself pure, but with the crooked you prove yourself shrewd. (Ps. 18:20–26)

It’s as if the psalmist closed his eyes, strummed his instrument, and whispered to his Maker: “This is what I love about you.” And then he begins to list the attributes of God that are not restrained within the Godhead, but rather pour out with great effect on the world He has created. It is as simple as the natural physics of the world, of divine cause and effect.

Christ is not like man with his hidden contractual clauses, tiny legal details at the bottom of the document, or legal language whose terms no layman can decipher. No, Wisdom Himself lays out the terms clearly for His people to understand.

From the time Adam and Eve drew first breath in God’s presence, Scripture is shot through with blessing for blessing, and curse for curse: “Do this and live, do that and you will surely die.” Have we been overcome with a fear of being labeled as legalistic? Or have we been overcome by a strange Pharisee-phobia that takes our interest away from obedience and disobedience to God and His character? Perhaps we should call out to God and ask Him to wake up any among us who sleep on God’s character, and the long-established grain of creation that teaches that living in wisdom and truth—even when it costs—brings earthly and spiritual blessing to those who claim His name.

For you rescue an oppressed people, but you humble those with haughty eyes. Lord, you light my lamp; my God illuminates my darkness. With you I can attack a barricade, and with my God I can leap over a wall. God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is a rock? Only our God. (Ps. 18:27–31)

What we miss when we ignore that obedience brings blessing is the truth that there is power in the blessing. Receiving His power to endure and battle back against darkness and injustice and disobedience is a part of the blessing. Once delivered from the inhabitants of Folly’s land of violence, Wisdom’s reward is the power to beat the darkness back to Folly’s door. For Christ, the Rock of Ages in whom we dwell, promises us that by His Holy Spirit He will build His rock upon His people’s testimony of His greatness, and not even the gates of hell will withstand the force.