December 9, 2022 -- Proverbs 9:9-12 & Luke 9:57-62 -- Journey to Christmas through Proverbs and Luke

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
    teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
    and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
    and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
    if you scoff, you alone will bear it.
Proverbs 9:9-12 ESV

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:57-62 ESV

It is tempting to think, “If I were there when Jesus walked the earth I’d follow Him for sure!” Through-out the centuries and generations of the Old Testament wisdom called out for men to become wise and know the LORD. Some did. Many scoffed. To scoff is to mock or make fun of, or to look at someone like he’s crazy. The glory of God and the wisdom given through the power of the Holy Spirit was available in every age, is available in every age, but people prefer to scoff and the puny man utterly dependent on God for his very breath, would use that breath to mock the Holy One. It is madness to do so.

When Jesus Himself walked the earth, the very people who had waited many many long generations, praying for His arrival, whose forefathers made sacrifices first at the Tabernacle, and finally at the Temple in Jerusalem, such people did not recognize Him, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. The passage from Luke shows Jesus confronting people with their false ideas of Who He Is. They saw His peripatetic life but imagined if they followed Him they’d have a different life than His own disciples did. While the disciples went here and there with Jesus, they were expecting to stay home or to do whatever was normal for them and have Jesus too. He would be a warm blanket to cover them rather than the Captain of Salvation, leading them into the thick of battle. Jesus blasted to pieces their notions that following Him would be easy.

A wise man will calculate the way of life without the LORD and realize that is in fact the path of death. He will realize to fear the LORD means to hate the old paths and the life of ruin and dissipation and sin. There is before him the One Whom Hebrews describes as “better”. Jesus is better than the foolishness of a self-directed life devoid of wisdom or knowledge. In Jesus Christ one encounters true wisdom. In Jesus Christ one has knowledge of the Father, Who sent Jesus so that the world would know His great love. Whoever surrenders to Jesus Christ finds life that is full of obstacles, struggles, worldly losses, but is rich with the spiritual life, joy, and the knowledge of Him Who after death has the power to bring one to His Presence in eternity where the Prince of Peace shall rule as King and Friend forevermore. The Spirit of God speaks to the very innermost part of a believer, declaring “Abba, Father”. Such joy. Such blessedness belongs to the believer who abandons his own false ideas of Who Jesus Is or his narrow view of what God the Father does or does not accept and with complete surrender yields himself to the way of wisdom.

O GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT,
That which I know not, teach thou me,
Keep me a humble disciple in the school of Christ,
learning daily there what I am in myself,
a fallen sinful creature,
justly deserving everlasting destruction;
O let me never lose sight of my need of a Saviour,
or forget that apart from him I am nothing,
and can do nothing.
Open my understanding to know the Holy Scriptures;
Reveal to my soul the counsels and works of the blessed Trinity;
Instill into my dark mind the saving knowledge of Jesus;
Make me acquainted with his covenant undertakings
and his perfect fulfilment of them,
that by resting on his finished work
I may find the Father’s love in the Son,
his Father, my Father,
and may be brought through thy influence to have fellowship
with the Three in One.
O lead me into all truth,
thou Spirit of wisdom and revelation,
that I may know the things that belong unto my peace,
and through thee be made anew.
Make practical upon my heart the Father’s love
as thou hast revealed it in the Scriptures;
Apply to my soul the blood of Christ, effectually, continually,
and help me to believe, with conscience comforted,
that it cleanses from all sin;
Lead me from faith to faith, that I may at all times
have freedom to come to a reconciled Father,
and may be able to maintain peace with him against doubts, fears,
corruptions, temptations.
Thy office is to teach me to draw near to Christ with a pure heart,
steadfastly persuaded of his love,
in the full assurance of faith.
Let me never falter in this way.
The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayers and Devotions: "The Spirit as a Teacher"

https://youtu.be/Pr2RG-xR2lA
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