A TREE BY THE SEA

Wisdom whispers in the ears of men.  It calls to them. The sound of her voice rests in a heart. It beckons one away from where they are. There are so many places to focus a mind. So many invitations to come inside. Where does a man choose to spend his time?

There are two women. Both have a call. One is to stand. The other is to fall. One is to die. The other is to live. One is to take the other is to give. One has a chain that binds hands and feet. One has a way to make captives free. One is the lock and the other is the key.

Stand outside and look in. From a doorway make a decision. There is a moment in each step of time. There is a choice in every glance of the eye. The mind reels and the heart recoils. The back breaks and the worker toils. The minutes click on never stopping for a break. Time continues with each choice they make. Wisdom calls but does the hearer listen? Standing there with so much to take in. The heart can lie and the mind can be seduced. The body is hoping that it doesn’t have to choose, because if fulfillment is offered at a low price we all know what the flesh will decide.

Wisdom has a house that was built long ago, but choosing her has a cost that few know. Though, Folly is there at every turn of the road wisdom requires the asker to be told, that though they seek with all their heart the house they are searching for will seem very far, unless they submit to one truth that is near. The beginning of wisdom is found in fear. This is hard for the asker to hear. Why should a man have to be afraid? Why can’t he just choose and live with the choice he has made?

Fear is a place that the heart hates to go. Fear doesn’t ease the mind or soothe the soul. Fear is unpleasant. It holds a man back. It can cause him to turn and stop him in his tracks. But the fear from which Wisdom is birthed is not the same fear that prevails in the earth. It is not a fear that tugs a man back but it is the kind that gives him the courage to act. This is a fear that presses a man to decide between choosing to live or letting himself die.

Why does our Creator give such a decision? To fear Him in order to get wisdom. Why does God lay this truth out? What are these poetic words all about? There is a king who sought to warn future ears. He pondered this God who is the same through the years. He wrote of two homes with two women standing near. One is Wisdom and she calls to all who would hear. She wants them to eat her food and drink her wine. She offers them a taste of the divine. She wants all to come to eat from the table she laid, she wants them to know that being afraid of God is not a place of lack. It is an abundant life with nothing held back. The fear of the Lord is the beginning that leads to her path.

The other home is set up on a hill. The woman calls out, “Come get your fill. I have a feast that lacks nothing you would desire. Come inside and feel the warmth of my fire.” The man who enters finds it as she said. He is welcomed at her table and into her bed. Drunk on stolen water and secret food that is sweet, soon the man finds he can no longer breathe. Fearing God would not have led him this way, but in finding Folly he has found his grave.

Mockers laugh at the idea of fear. “Submit to God?” Folly sneers. Wisdom however turns her wise head. She continues to mix her wine and prepare her bread. The simple may go on the path towards the dead. Yet her way is clearly marked as previously said. She gives life and length of days. Folly gives lies and empty praise.  She offers hope to a dying man. Folly takes from life all that she can. There is blood in Wisdom’s wine and flesh in her bread. She offers life even to those who are dead. When she laid out her table and set each place. Wisdom looked ahead and saw grace.

Her table was set for a Man to sit. He reached into her heart and emptied it into a glass that He held in His hand. Then He turned to another man. He said take this cup and drink deep. This is the life that you seek. Then He picked up the bread that rested on His plate. He gave it to the man and he ate. He said eat this bread and remember My pain. What I will do for you is not done in vain. My blood runs freely, My flesh is torn by My own will. Now take it and have your fill. The man chose to eat and also to drink, but still he was not sure what to think. How can this sip of wine give him his life? How could this piece of bread keep him alive? Yet when he looked at Jesus literally dead he remembered the wine and he thought of the bread. He pondered these things for three days. Then early one morning he stepped into an empty grave. God in flesh had given him a taste.

This same man only three days before denied that he was with the Lord. He had drunk His blood and eaten His flesh along with the other last supper guests. When the wine was offered and the bread held out, he had leaned in and opened his mouth. The covenant was sealed with blood that was real. The last sacrifice tore the veil. Wisdom prepared this final meal.

Looking into his eyes after he denies knowing Him. Jesus reminds his close friend that the fear of God is not the fear of man. There is no shame or condemnation for the one who understands that the blood that is wine and the bread that is flesh is the answer. It is not the test. It is final. It is finished with each bite and each drink. Fearing God is not what some think. It’s not the cowering or quivering under a solid stare. It’s not running away from an angry Father when scared. Fearing God is being prepared to answer Him one day. What will you say? When questioned how did the last supper taste?

Wisdom calls.

T