Proverbs 9:1-6 Wisdom has built her house;
she has set up its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city,
4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
5 “Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of insight.”
Some things just take you by surprise, and maybe even in a good way. You don’t expect the blessing to come in such a strange package. A urinary tract infection ends up saving your newborn’s life. Not receiving the promotion at work bringing greater blessing. Feeling completely alone in a war zone bringing you closer to the LORD.
Stop for a moment and remember one time that you received a blessing from something that you never thought could bring a blessing. (Insert sound of Jeopardy waiting music here.)
Maybe you have never thought about the blessings that come in unexpected packages. But if I am honest, many of the greatest blessings have come in unexpected wrappings. And I am puzzled and amazed every time.
Our text and the remainder of the chapter highlight one of these packages. Wisdom and folly are both characterized as women who set up a house and invite the foolish over to eat a meal prepared for them. Food and wine are highlighted on the menu. But isn’t wine, especially mixed wine, something that wise people avoid according to the wisdom literature of the Scriptures!
So why would the wise woman Wisdom include these things on her menu? I think the answer comes as you look at the meal offered by the unruly woman Folly. She offers “stolen water” to her guests, and food “eaten in secret.” She offers a life of hiding and corruption.
The woman Wisdom offers a satisfying meal of food and drink. And according to the verses in the middle of this chapter, she offers instruction and life. She uses what people need as the draw to help open the door to wisdom.
I think this is what organizations like Salvation Army does when they offer food and a warm bed. They are offering what people need in order to have the opportunity to offer the living food Jesus. He is the bread and the wine of life. Wisdom offers a life lived in the open, not one lurking in the shadows.
Does your life offer something people need and want, or are you one of those exotic restaurants catering to the rich and famous? Does your life offer practical advice or esoteric words that tickle the imaginations? If everybody put what you live into action in their lives, how would the world change? For the better?
The Arnold Journey 