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

WISDOM'S CALL

Many voices call out to us in the brief hours of a day. We receive phone calls from familiar voices, emails, texts, calls from our own hallways and from up the stairs of our homes. We are bombarded with ads that entice us to momentary pleasure at the expense of our pain, that one last meeting with the wrong person, or whichever drug of choice we find irresistible. These voices crowd in and echo with insistent and increasing volume, attempting to obscure Wisdom’s voice if we do not take care. They know what we like, they know what we want.

Both modern and developing worlds provide an abundance of distractions calling for our time and attention, but it seems like more than ever before. Neurobiologists who specialize in the brain’s functions and how it adapts to the world around us teach us that while our bodies experience both pain and pleasure in similar ways, our bodies are exhausted by balancing the dissonance between the two. Perhaps this is our Creator calling from inside His creation to discern between the fruit of wisdom and folly, and that our understanding the difference extends into, even begins in, our brains.

It’s no wonder then, that Scripture instructs us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2). Detaching from the distractions and calls of other voices intent on harm is a weighty task when they are everywhere, targeting us from a distance us like a hustler seeking a mark.

There are many human voices woven into the stories of the Bible; the voices of husbands directing wives and wives directing husbands, of rulers directing their people, of prophets speaking the words and will of God, of those treated unjustly crying out in the desert for recompense; voices persuading, condemning, upbraiding, and even encouraging us to draw near to the ultimate voice, such as that of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness to “make straight the way of the Lord.”

The voice of Wisdom that commands and beckons us to come apart from those is distinct from all others; it beckons us to come, be refreshed, renewed, made alive, and live. This is the voice of the Shepherd, by whom His sheep are known. And so as all others fall away in this moment, we tune our voice to His:

Doesn’t wisdom call out? Doesn’t understanding make her voice heard? At the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads, she takes her stand. Beside the gates leading into the city, at the main entrance, she cries out: “People, I call out to you; my cry is to the children of Adam. Learn to be shrewd, you who are inexperienced; develop common sense, you who are foolish.” (Prov. 8:1–5)

There is no shame in Wisdom’s call. Wisdom wants not only to be heard, she wants to be seen. Wisdom calls to us as high and grand as a living statue, raised on the highest places, high atop a hill so that all may see who it is that is calling, and see who is flocking toward this voice of life.

Note here that the invitation is to everyone. All people are welcome at Wisdom’s door, and that includes you and me. Shakespeare’s sprite Puck famously said, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” And this is us as well, for we are all under the foolishness of Adam after the fall.

The school of wisdom is the most inclusive and comprehensive educational plan known to mankind . . . it is also the most essential.