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.
Welcome to another day of celebration friends; another day of excitement, adventure and purpose on God’s great earth as we set out to do His awesome will! And is that ever a marvellous thing, because we don’t know what’s in store for us, but we are assured that whatever it is, God will make it all good eventually! That’s His promise, and He is ever-faithful to keep them. And remember today is Friday, the day we let our hair down in preparation for the weekend. (smile)
So let’s see what the ordinary workingman has to offer us today nuh. And he seems to be getting His energy and zest for living back after the long Covid-19 lockdown, for he declares (steups!) with great enthusiasm: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday at last, and the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all’s right with my world, or as right as it can be under the circumstances! (smile) Well we still have to be careful with this Corona virus thing, but it’s not as bad as it was before with the reopening of plenty places, and above all, people not behaving as stupid as they did in the beginning, finally realizing the deadliness of the virus and how we have to be ever so careful in dealing with it.
And yes, I know that it still have the odd ones who going to behave foolish, and those who still believe that is all fake and the numbers are boosted to make it look bad, but the fact of the matter is that people still dying from it, and once that is happening, yuh have to pay attention to yuh lifestyle. I guess that’s what they calling the new normal… Hn! And I really can’t complain too much nuh, because ah working, mih children healthy, mih wife not as stressed out as before…
But ah don’t know bout this school business though, with li’l children wearing mask whole day, and so many a them in li’l cubby hole classrooms with no proper ventilation… I guess school’s important, but look how many days we break beach, played hooky from school, and we still turn out okay. (smile) Don’t see why the rush to send them back to school when they know it not safe nuh. But we’ll see how it turns out. Till then we have to give thanks to God for Fridays and the weekends oui!’
Ah mih people, as always, the ordinary workingman raises some good points, but who’s going to listen to him eh? As Cousin Sol said so long ago in Ecclesiastes: ‘There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks (barriers, siege works) against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.’ (Eccl. 9:14-16)
And that’s the gospel truth! The wisdom of the poor man is seldom considered important; that is if it’s ever thought that poor people can be wise. But we all know better than that eh my brethren. And there’s no better example of the poor being despised re wisdom than Jesus’ appearance and teaching in his own hometown of Nazareth. (Mark 6:2-3) When he began to teach in the temple they were astonished at His wisdom, wondering how the simple carpenter boy from their town got so wise. ‘And they were offended at him.’
Imagine that nuh. But it happens all the time, all over the world. As Jesus so wisely said to them. ‘A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin (relatives), and in his own house.’ (Mark 6:4.) And because of their offense and disbelief, Jesus was unable to do any mighty work in His own home town. (Mark 6: 5-6) How sad!
That brings us back to Cousin Sol in Ecclesiastes. Hear these awesome words on wisdom. ‘For wisdom is a defense (shade, shadow), and money is a defense: but the excellency (advantage) of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.’ (Eccl. 7:12) Mama Yo! What wisdom! (smile) And it’s the gospel truth! Wisdom offers something to its holder that money or any other material substance cannot. That’s why Cousin Sol said in Proverbs that ‘Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.’ (Prov. 4:7)
Oh my people, wisdom should be the number one thing we seek after in this earthly life. And what’s so wonderful about wisdom is that it comes from God, as James says: ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not (without reproach); and it shall be given to Him. But you have to ask in faith, not wavering.’ (James 1:4-5) That means, to truly seek wisdom, you have to truly seek God, and that’s our raison d’etre, our reason for being here on earth; to seek Him, to LOVE and adore and worship Him, our God and our Creator.
So let’s go to Him now seeking wisdom nuh; wisdom to handle all the difficulties we’re now engulfed in. Let’s chant our Friday Chant. All together now, with sincere hearts. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. Yuh know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and the racial strife causing. We not accustomed to that kind of life Lord, and it really telling on us. And we know we can’t handle it on our own, that we desperately need your help.
Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the sure and wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, so that we can avoid any more serious setbacks.
And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to also bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. It’s also a good opportunity to introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion because of the way we, your faithful believers, handle the situation. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’
Now let’s go out and handle the situation like we promised – like real faithful believers! Much LOVE!
…money can’t buy you wisdom…but wisdom will help you make money…
SCRIP-BITS 