SCRIP-BITS

Ecclesiastes 9:16.    Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
 
Oh Friends, our God constantly amazes me with His unerring actions. Today’s amazement comes from my picking up a little card on my desk with a prayer on either side. I shared one already and considered sharing the other today, but in the heat of the excitement (smile) I put it aside and went searching for a Bit. I eventually found one dealing with wisdom. Then I was led to read the prayer again, which I did, though more seriously, only to discover that it basically asks the Lord to grant us wisdom in our earthly journey. The obvious conclusion was that it should be shared. So here it is: ‘O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgement, And light riseth up in the darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’ Yes mih people, the best thing to ask the Lord for is wisdom to guide our earthly affairs, for as Cousin Sol says earlier on in Ecclesiastes: ‘For wisdom is a defence (a protective shade), and money is a defense: but the excellency (advantage) of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.’ (Eccl.7:12) And again: ‘Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men (rulers) which are in the city.’ (Eccl.7:19) So people, from whatever angle we look at it, wisdom appears to be the best single gift or attribute we can have, although it’s not always looked on favourably when found in lesser mortals, or those of lowly status in our society. Our Bit describes it to a T. ‘Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.’ And that’s all gospel truth mih breddren! Cousin Sol came to this important conclusion after recounting the story of a little city with a small population. One day a mighty king came with all his forces and besieged this little city. But fortunately within the city was found a poor wise man, who, by his wisdom delivered it. Unfortunately though, after that, he was totally forgotten. (Eccl.9:14-15) Oh Friends, that happens constantly in our world today. The voice of the poor, uneducated and supposed unwise person is never heard or paid attention to. For some unfathomable reason our society seems to think that only book learning brings wisdom. And even then it must be inculcated into a person of fair economic means for it to be appreciated or considered. What egotistical and hypocritical nonsense mih people! For some of the best lessons in wisdom are learned from the ordinary living of life, where it’s called common sense or street smarts, and oftimes the poor have it in extraordinary amounts because they simply need it to survive. And if wisdom is predominantly gleaned from book learning, why then is our world so shoddily and inefficiently run, when so many of our leaders and upper strata persons have plenty of both wealth and book learning eh? Sadly, I don’t know the answer to that million-dollar question, but I do know that the ordinary man in the street usually has a good grasp of what it takes to make life worthwhile, because if he doesn’t, then crapaud smoke ‘im pipe. Ah mih people, the poor are always judged to be foolish and unwise, which theoretically leads to their poverty. And the sad part is that this theory is not only held by the powerful and wealthy, but also by their fellow poor. And we’ll end today with possibly the greatest and most compelling example of that; Jesus preaching in His hometown of Nazareth. We’ll use Mark’s gospel, since it gives the fullest version. ‘And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence had this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought (performed) by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.’ (Mark 6:1-3) Yes Friends, just because Jesus was a lowly carpenter’s son, his own lowly people felt uncomfortable and offended by His great outpouring of wisdom. Instead of being happy that one of their own had improved Himself, they let envy and stupidity cloud their minds and behaviour. It was bad enough that the scribes and Pharisees found Jesus offensive, but when your own aren’t happy with your improvement, then that really hurts. Oh my brethren, please, let’s not be so judgmental that we can’t listen to and appreciate the advice and/or wisdom of someone who doesn’t have all the trappings that society considers necessary to be wise. It’s something we all have been guilty of at one time or another, but it’s neither fair nor wise, for wisdom can truly be found anywhere, anytime, even in a person of poor and lowly societal status. Much LOVE!…judge not by appearances…remember God chose the weak and foolish…to confound and embarrass the wise and strong…