Preceding Grace: #wisdom

Friday, April 4, 2025

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 27

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Twenty-eight

Job seems to give a soliloquy on wisdom in the midst of all that is happening to him.

As we think about wisdom, it seems that one couldn't put a price on it. Verse 15 states:

"It cannot be gotten for gold, and silver cannot be weighed out as its price."

Certainly, our institutions of higher learning might beg to differ on this adage!

When Job states that "the price of wisdom is above pearls" in verse 18, it reminds me of the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 13:45-46:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Wisdom, like the kingdom of heaven, is something that one would give up everything to possess.

We finally get a hint of what Job considers wisdom in the last verse of the chapter where God states:

Sometimes we learn from our mistakes.
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.’

As we see what Job has endured, one could say that a part of what this book is getting at is that wisdom can be gained in suffering. I'm certainly wiser for the difficulties I've had to endure. Hopefully, these things give us greater empathy for one another rather than greater cynicism.

The perspective of wisdom may be that we understand that bad times don't endure but that good times don't either. Both are ephemeral. We have to celebrate the good while we have them and help each other through the bad when they occur. Maybe in this we discover the kingdom of heaven.

I like the Black Crowes song called "Wiser Time" whose chorus states:

On a good day, I know it ain't every day

We can part the sea

And on a bad day, I know it ain't every day

Glory beyond our reach

Prayer for the day:

Gracious God, like Solomon before us, we would ask you for wisdom. But if this means that we must endure hardship to get it, we are not so sure. And so, when the darkness descends upon us for whatever reason, help us to gain perspective in its midst. And as we gather greater understanding, we would ask that this be tempered with greater compassion as well. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Photo by Jake Pierrelee on Unsplash

Friday, March 15, 2024

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 27

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you."

Matthew 7:6 (NRSVue)

I really appreciate that this passage comes right on the heels of the admonishment not to judge others! I don't know if placing these together was Matthew's decision as he recorded the sermon or if Jesus preached it in this sequence, but I find it brilliant however it comes to us.

We look at these animals differently today!

There is an acknowledgement that we shouldn't judge others too harshly (from verses 1-5) and at the same time, we recognize that we do encounter difficult people throughout our lives. Dogs and swine were definitely derogatory in that culture and so we are seeing that holiness and wisdom are often disregarded by people all around us.

I'm reminded of the Fred Craddock story where he told of a man who worked with what we would now identify as autistic children. He had quit his job because it was so emotionally exhausting. He was trying to engage with a girl he was working with about what her Thanksgiving had been like over the weekend and her response was, "my shoes are red."

Fred then told about visiting a worship service that was just perfect and someone after the service turned to him in that sacred moment and asked about the upcoming NFL season. Fred said he felt like the man was saying to him in the moment, "my shoes are red."

Sometimes we experience something sacred while those around us seem to go about their lives as if the status quo is permanent. How do we witness to God in our life to people who may not appreciate it? Who may even call you to doubt your own experience? I've felt mauled and I've felt trampled under foot from time to time.

This passage is to be held in tension with the previous passage - "do not judge" - by caring for us and saying, "don't let yourself be dragged through the mud either."

So this seems to be saying to us, "do not judge and do not be naive."

During this Lenten season, it is important that we care for ourselves too. Because sometimes dogs bite and pigs do more than squeal.

Prayer for the day: Loving God, we give praise to you for who you are in the midst of our lives. Those times when you break through and it is so obvious, we do want to shout it from the rooftop. But we also understand that not everyone sees what we see. Give us the wisdom to share what we know in ways that can be heard. Protect us from those who are threatened by a word of comfort. And let us have insight into how they see. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Photo by dr.ōzda via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.