Focus
Pay attention to the tension in your body. Let go of it and any expectations to do anything other than God’s will today. Prepare yourself to hear God’s word.
Read
Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 (NRSV)
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”
The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one bungler destroys much good.
Reflect
I grew up on a small (by today’s standards) farm in Logan County, Kentucky. We did our shopping in the county seat, Russellville, twelve or so miles from the farm up highway 79. At one point, the highway made a sharp s-curve downhill and went beneath a railroad overpass only to ascend steeply into another sharp curve. As the story goes, a tall tractor trailer tried to negotiate the curves and grades only to wind up wedged beneath the railroad overpass. It could move neither forward nor backward. Tow trucks were no help and, with traffic blocked in both directions, the people who gathered around the spectacle could figure out no solution for the ensnared truck. Among the crowd was a little boy who finally got someone’s attention and suggested letting some air out of the truck’s tires. Sure enough, the truck made good its escape.
Wisdom often comes from unexpected sources. Sometimes people listen, as in the case of the trapped truck. Sometimes they don’t, as in the case of the city’s refusal to heed the poor man’s wisdom, only to be destroyed. The take away? Be open to wisdom from unusual sources.
Pray
Wise God, open our eyes and ears to the wonders around us. Grant us humility and receptive hearts to the wisdom you offer, sometimes from unexpected people and places. Amen.
Go with God.
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