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A Time for Everything

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“A Time for Everything”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11 (3:1, 11) – November 2, 2025

Time has a funny way of getting away from us, doesn’t it? Time can be rushing by while you and I are sitting, watching, on a treadmill or a big hamster wheel. Time is elastic, sometimes stretching out, tedious while we are waiting, other times jam-packed with events and decisions and happenings all on top of each other!

Our reading from Ecclesiastes 3 tells us a lot about time. This reading tells us about different facets of life, too. There is a time for everything. Everything under the sun.

This book of Ecclesiastes is traditionally thought to be written by the older King Solomon. We are pretty clear about Solomon’s birth and death dates. Scholars place this book about 935 or so, BCE. Again, this was late in Solomon’s life. As you and I consider this chapter 3, I invite you to consider the older Solomon. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, for sure. One of the favored sons of King David, he had it all! Money, property, women, power. The country of Israel was at peace, too! So, as he wrote this book, he was writing from a reflective, almost contemplative point of view.

I want us to zero in on Ecclesiastes chapter 3. One of my favorite commentators is Carolyn Brown, now retired Director of Children’s Ministry at a PC/USA church. She wrote a comprehensive collection of readings for each of the weeks of the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle. I have often quoted her insights, as I will today.

            In this reading, our preacher lists 14 pairs of opposites. These opposites come from all areas of life, and some of these opposites are stark, and some are especially illuminating. In verse 2, as we see in a large part of the world, there are the changes of the seasons. All you and I need to do is to look outside and view the glory of the changing seasons in the colorful display of the leaves on the trees! We cannot plant seeds outside right now. It is not the time of year for that.  We can’t plant seeds in the winter, or harvest them in the spring.

            Verse 6 reminds us there are times we need to save things carefully – like putting aside clothes to wear again, or wear at a different season. There are other times when we need to let things go – like giving away old clothes or toys or other stuff we have outgrown. And, in verse 7, we see there is a time to be silent, and conversely, definitely a time to speak out! Sometimes, it is hard to know which time it is. [1] Hard, even soul-searching, indeed!

            As I considered this reading in depth, and in particular for my sermon preparation, my thoughts return again and again to verses 1 and 2. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.” Both birth and death are  part of God’s plan for our lives. Both birth and death are part of the cycle or circle of life.

            My online friend Michelle van Loon had this penetrating reflection. “King David’s last recorded message to his people includes words that foreshadow the message of the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written long after David’s death: David said, “We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.” (1 Chron 29:15 NLT)” [2]

            These times today are uncertain times. As workplaces are restructured, businesses merge or close, or other structures in our lives are disrupted, many people lose their livelihoods. People across the country, even across the world, are in a place of not knowing, not understanding what is going on. Moreover, during the past week here in Chicago there is the uncertainty, even the trauma for our children, young people and seniors of watching masked, armed men pull people out of cars and off of sidewalks. Disappearing them, as unnamed troops habitually do in other countries with strong-arm governments. What kinds of long-term, traumatic reactions and effects are being sown in countless lives, hearts and brains here and now?

I have now been studying trauma and its effects on people observing traumatic events for almost two years, for my doctoral studies. This devastating activity in my own hometown and suburbs is completely beyond my understanding, given what I know about the founding of this country, and its welcome to immigrants from Germany, Poland, and an orthodox Jewish family – who I count as my ancestors. Which brings us full circle to All Saints Sunday, and lifting up the saints from this church, and from other churches and places and spaces throughout the world.

            Verse 4 from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells us, “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” There are times when life is sad and we cry, for good reason. There are other times when life is so happy that we laugh a lot. We may prefer the happy, laughing times. But, God is with us in both happy and sad times. [3]  

            What is dawning on my mind and heart from this Scripture reading is that God has indeed set times and places in all of our lives. Yes, there are appointed times, and seasons for things and events to happen. Yes, there even is a time for churches to be planted, just as there is for churches to close. God indeed has the last word. God can make a way through. God opens a window in the skies, in the everlasting, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy day Solomon paints for us. God does indeed make everything beautiful in its time! Everything is in God’s time.

            I remind myself that I can be reassured, and comforted by these thoughts. We need to remember that God holds everything and all of us through it all, in all of our times. We can have certainty of God’s unending love. After all, it is because of my surety in God’s amazing and unending love that I have allowance and ability to explore, to even wonder about these important questions about time and the different facets of life, as highlighted by Ecclesiastes 3. As we pass from one season of time into another, I invite us all to ask: what comes to mind as we reflect on what has been, and as we begin to think about and articulate our hopes for what will be? [4]

We can reflect upon the saints who were in this place, and in other places we remember. “It is a ‘yes’ to God’s life moving through all things, calling us forward to changed lives and changed communities.” [5] And, we can look forward to the time that God has for all of us that lies ahead of each one of us.  

         As the litany we will share later in this service tells us, “Now, as we journey from this house into the future, we give you thanks O God. Be with us in thanksgiving as we move into other communities that will allow us to share the story, break the bread and live abundantly with God.  Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2013/11/new-years-day-years-b-c.html

[2] A reflection post from Facebook, from Michelle Van Loon on October 23, 2025.

[3] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2013/11/new-years-day-years-b-c.html

[4] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2013/12/a-new-years-reflection.html

[5] https://www.patheos.com/resources/additional-resources/2010/12/happy-sacred-new-year-bruce-epperly

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Prescription for Prayer

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“Prescription for Prayer”

1 Timothy 2:1-8 (2:1-3) – September 21, 2025

It’s good to be in the habit of doing certain things. Say, going to the gym. Exercise is a beneficial thing, and if I go to the gym on a regular basis, like three times a week, I will be healthier for it. Same for other things—like practicing the piano, practicing swimming or square dancing—it’s beneficial to get into the habit of regular repetition, week in, and week out.   

Worship and prayer are regular, comfortable things, things many churches do the same way, week in and week out. Here in our scripture reading today, Paul gives his younger friend Timothy some words of wisdom. Recommendations, if you will, of some things Timothy’s church can do in worship and prayer that will be beneficial to them all.

Reading again from 1 Timothy 2, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior.”

I’ll stop right there. Not because the rest of the reading is unimportant. No! But, because Paul has so many ideas that are bursting out of him one on top of the other, I am afraid we might be overloaded if I read them all.

I am on social media, daily. I feature some things regularly, including my Daily Prayer posts. I have posted Daily Prayers on my public Facebook page for five years now. I see it as something I can contribute for my Facebook friends, and for friends of friends, too. I post a prayer each evening that I find meaningful, and I hope they can be helpful to others, too. ‘

Other people have regular habits or practices of prayer and meditation. That is what the Apostle Paul talks about here! I am in a doctoral program for Spiritual Direction, which some people refer to as spiritual companionship. That’s coming alongside of another person, or a small group of people, being a long-term companion. Walking with them, sitting with them through their joys and through their difficulties and sorrows. I have a heart for listening to people’s stories, challenges, and difficulties in their lives. Plus, I pray with people through these things.

You recognize that is what we do in church, don’t you? In our Intercessory Prayers each week, we – as a congregation – come alongside of individuals and families and pray with them through their joys, challenges, and various difficulties. That is exactly what Paul tells Timothy to do here! This reading is a prescription for intercessory prayer in a worship service!

I know that believers and followers of Christ, Paul and Timothy were very much in the minority in their communities. The majority opinion and the overwhelming cultural context for both of them was one of a worldly avarice, where people were concerned about “me, first!” and “where’s mine?” This call to intercessory prayer was very counter-cultural!

Let’s look again at what Paul recommends. Paul begins the chapter by encouraging Timothy to offer prayers for all members of the human family during church services.He wants petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving – all integral parts of praying – to be made for all people. That is not just for a few, or a family, or “only for our little, insular group of people.” No! Paul is recommending to Timothy that we pray for ALL people.

He mentions prayer in the terms of: petitions (humble, general requests to God), intercessions (requests, pleading for those in need), supplications (requests for ourselves, especially when faced with a crisis) and thanksgivings (expressing gratitude for blessings we receive). [1] All people need to be held up to God in prayer.

That means for everyone. Period. Even for mean people. Even for people we disagree with. Even for people who don’t look like us. As the modern translation from “The Message” of this reading begins, “Pray every way you know how for everyone you can.” Period.

Especially in the past few years in this country, division, discord, and dissension of large portions of the American population has only speeded up in the last few years, fueled by increasingly divisive rhetoric, shrill podcasts, and fraught news reports, as well as the regional and national conversations.

As Rev. Sharon Blezzard said, “Good news doesn’t usually sell publications or improve ratings. It takes bombast, divisiveness, and catty, snarky repartee to make headlines, not prayerful peacemakers standing in the breach attempting to reknit brokenness in quiet relationship building and listening. But we are called to a different way of being, to a stewardship of self and other that places value on people, on relationships, and on the building up of community.” [2]

God has not called us to be snarky or mean, nasty or divisive. God does not want big bullies on God’s team. I have never heard of God approving of or cheering on hateful, spiteful Christians, either.

Instead, when we “Pray every way you know how for everyone you can.,” Paul reminds Timothy that “3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

Remember what the situation was for Paul and Timothy, and for all other believers in that first-century time and place. It is the same for us, today!  “We are called to be counter-cultural witnesses to God’s love, mercy, and saving grace. We cannot be a witness if our hearts are filled with hate. We cannot love our neighbors if we aren’t willing to get to know them, and certainly not if we aren’t willing to stop working violence against one another.” [3]

      Paul tells us we are to pray for all people; and we are to follow Paul’s lead in supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings. The intention of such prayers is so that we Christians in society will be able to live tranquil and quiet lives. This isn’t me saying it. It’s the apostle Paul!

Regardless of whether there is peace in our church, peace in our neighborhood, or peace in our country, prayer is always a good idea. Having a close relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the reason we are here. Praise God! Thank You, Jesus. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] http://www.lectionarystudies.com/sunday25ce.html Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible Studies and Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources.

[2] https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/2016/09/calling-all-prayerful-peacemakers/

[3] Ibid.

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Wisdom from Above!

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“Wisdom from Above!”

James 3:13-4:3 (3:17) – September 22, 2024

            I wonder if you can think of people who are called the best at something? The greatest athlete in a sport? The smartest student at your school? The best chef or best writer or best driver or best of anything? Just imagine how much bitter jealousy that comment can promote. Or, how much selfishness and blind ambition all this empty striving and competition leads to!

Worldly “wisdom” is anything but wise, according to our letter writer James. I am sure you recognize these jealous, covetous people. They regularly moan and kvetch and sometimes outright quarrel about what they have or about what they don’t have. James tells us about these dissatisfied, disgruntled people in our Scripture reading today.  

            Just listen to his description: “If in your heart you are jealous, bitter, and selfish, don’t sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from heaven; it belongs to the world, it is unspiritual and demonic. 16 Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil.”  

This kind of worldly striving, dog-eat-dog attitude is definitely not what James has in mind for us, as believers in Christ. He shines the spotlight on how believers ought to live. Listen! “13 Are there any of you who are wise and understanding? You are to prove it by your good life, by your good deeds performed with humility and wisdom.”

Can there be a sharper contrast between the dissatisfied, selfish, boastful worldly “wisdom” and the Godly, humble, beneficial wisdom and way of life that James talks about here? Not likely. Remember, in this practical letter, this how-to manual, James advises his friends on how to live in a way pleasing to God.

            It’s true that this fancy, flashy excitement can be attractive, even seductive, on the surface! But, all that is just for show, simply surface, an inch deep, and nothing more than worldly dissatisfaction, boastfulness and jealously. But, let’s be truthful – which of us is not tempted, sometimes, by the alluring or bright and shiny trappings of the way of worldly “wisdom?” Which of us doesn’t fall in step with others who might be jealous, or bitter, or selfish – sometimes? Most important, which of us leaves the simple, quiet, godly life of contentment for the flashy, glitzy (and shallow) excitement that so soon fades?

            Let’s consider the worldly, flawed way of thinking and being, for a moment. Carolyn Brown, retired Children’s Ministry Director, has written a prayer for this reading. Listen, if you would, and see whether these words from Ms. Brown do not resonate in our hearts.

Dear God, we want to look amazing.  

We want great clothes, cool shoes, a great haircut. We want our homes filled with our stuff.

We want all the best people to be our friends. We want to be the first, the best, the most, the greatest. So we grab and hold and demand. We even kick and punch to get what we want.

Forgive us.

Teach us to let go, to open our hands and hearts to others. Teach us to be content with what we have and to share it.

Teach us to think as much about what OTHERS want as what WE want. Teach us to be as loving as Jesus. Amen. [1]

            This prayer penetrates straight to the heart, let me tell you! I want to ask God for forgiveness, and to help me live in a loving way, like Jesus. I hope you do, too.

            This prayer makes me think of the Jewish High Holidays, which are quickly approaching. During the month before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, faithful Jews prepare for these holidays by examining their hearts. They meditate and pray, and ask forgiveness of God, of others, and of themselves for the sins and shortcomings of the past year.

            We also have a weekly time of confession and prayer at the beginning of each worship service. Thank God we receive the assurance of pardon each Sunday from our loving Lord! Yet, we keep on sinning. We still need to keep confessing our sins and shortcomings, and receive that assurance of pardon and forgiveness. Is it any wonder that we have this very practical how-to manual of how to live the Christian life by our letter-writer James, in the New Testament?  

            James assures his readers of Godly wisdom, because he describes its results. “Believers need to submit to the wise rule of God through the Spirit of God, a rule which purifies from within.” [2] The practical consequences of this wise rule of God are easy to observe. People who live God’s way are peaceable, considerate, gentle and non-combative! Does this sound very worldly to you? Certainly not selfish or jealous or bitter!

            What I wonder: how is the life of Jesus any mirror to our personal lives? Jesus is certainly recorded as merciful and loving. That is displayed over and over again in the Gospel record! When I think of our Lord Jesus during that three-year period of time in Palestine, I cannot think of anyone more sincere, honest or peaceable. More real and yet penetrating to the heart. I would love to have just a fraction of that Godly attitude and lifestyle as part of mine!

What – practically – can we take away from this reading today? Can we concentrate on living like Jesus? Living the Jesus way is peaceable, considerate, gentle and non-combative. Jesus is sincere, honest, and real. Can we make a commitment to live like Jesus?

This is the how-to of living a life pleasing to God, being filled with the presence of God. “[You and I] are works in process. This isn’t about completion and the satisfaction of a job well done; it is about a journey of discovery and transformation. But peace [gentleness, mercy, and lovingkindness] can be our companions in the journey to keep our feet on the path.” [3]

            Practical James would wholeheartedly agree! Keep on keeping on. Live in God’s way, in the wonderful, honest presence of Jesus. It’s a sure-fire way to have God draw near to each one of us. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2012/08/year-b-proper-20-25th-sunday-in_30.html

Worshiping with Children

[2] http://www.lectionarystudies.com/sunday25bee.html  

[3]  https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/doers-of-the-word/seventeenth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes

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Turning of the Year!

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“Turning of the Year!”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (3:1) – December 31, 2023

            Time has a funny way of getting away from us, doesn’t it? Time can be rushing by while you and I are sitting, watching, on a treadmill or a big hamster wheel. Time is elastic, sometimes stretching out, tedious while we are waiting, other times jam-packed with events and decisions and happenings all on top of each other!

            Many people take stock at the end of the year, looking back, looking ahead. My husband Kevin noticed a local newspaper at a restaurant we went to for lunch yesterday. The sports page had a preview for 2024, showing some positive news: up-and-coming sports players to watch and look forward to! That is certainly one way of looking at the turning of the year!

            The Scripture reading for today (for tomorrow, really – for New Year’s Day) comes from the Hebrew Scriptures book called Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes does not have riveting stories like Genesis or 1 or 2 Samuel. It does not have uplifting or emotional songs like the book of Psalms, or stirring prophecy like Isaiah. What this book does have is a poignant, soul-stirring view on time, on life, on death, and on wisdom, right here in chapter 3.

            People can get bogged down with the basic message of Ecclesiastes. In short, an overview of the whole book has the Teacher (some call him the Preacher) telling his readers that life is short, everything passes away and goes back to God, and he gives the advice to live life to the fullest while you can. Grab all the gusto you can! Seize the day! Carpe diem!

            A secondary message found in this short book is to strive after wisdom. I can imagine young people hearing the first, overarching message of Ecclesiastes and doing exactly that – living life to the fullest while they can! Except, young people often do not consider wisdom. Sometimes older folks do not consider wisdom, either!

Wisdom is front and center here in chapter 3. We see life – and humanity – laid out for us, in all its nitty gritty manner, warts and all.

We can look at this reading from three different perspectives, This is helpful when interpreting this famous passage from Ecclesiastes 3. “In order to appreciate the wisdom of what “the Teacher” presents, we do well to see it from an outside location for a positive perspective, the inside for a negative perspective and up-above for an ultimate perspective.” [1]

            If we view this reading from the outside, just taking the words “as is,” everything looks pretty good, pretty safe. Remember the folk song from the 1960s by the Byrds? Turn, Turn, Turn. The words to the song read exactly like today’s Scripture reading. Yes, there are different times for different experiences in our lives. That plain truth is self-evident. The same fire that melts butter also boils a hard-boiled egg. The same wind that puts out a match will fan flames into a strong blaze. There is a time for everything, for every activity under heaven.

            Except – we are not to go through life blindly or carelessly. Just as the Teacher says to us, we “acknowledge the wisdom of these different times. We challenge the assumption that if we are spiritual enough, we ought to be happy all the time, realizing instead if we’ve lost someone—to divorce or Alzheimer’s or a miscarriage –it is the right time to weep.  We acknowledge there is a time to scatter stones (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”). And a time to hate (cancer, human trafficking, hypocrisy.)” [2]

            We need to consider the inside story next. That’s the negative part, isn’t it? Looking at these words from the inside, and considering the context, the “why” and the “how come?” We run right into sadness and pain, the core and substance of life. We all know that life is not always rosy! Life has negative aspects, depressing happenings, and sad situations.

Sometimes these situations come up again and again. This boils down to the conclusion that actor Jim Carrey gave in an interview: “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” [3]Does striving after the unreachable, beating the air, running as fast as you can with no chance of ever catching a break, sound familiar? “What do we gain from any of this? What profit?” At the end of the day, the Teacher calls every tick of our clock, every activity under the sun meaningless.            

            Sounds pretty hopeless, and the Teacher says humanity can do very little! But, do not despair! We come to the third view, the view from up above – God’s viewpoint! We read v. 10: “I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. [And then this shining ray of hope] Yet God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.”  

            God indeed has the last word. God can make a way through. God opens a window in the skies, in the everlasting cloudy day of sorrow the writer of Ecclesiastes paints for us. God does indeed make everything beautiful in its time! Everything is in God’s time.

            Which brings us back to where we started, with time. Our human concept of time. “We human beings are in time, we’re defined by its limits. But from the midst of time, we have a sense for eternity. We have inklings of something more. We hear echoes from a far country.” [4] I suspect even the writer of Ecclesiastes heard this inkling of eternity, too.

            With wisdom, we come to understand that time is not just what happens around us! “Time is something to which we pay wise attention so that we can know how to act in various seasons of life. Ecclesiastes 3 is not just about the passing of time or the “turn, turn, turn” of life’s cycles. It is also about wisdom, about a wise discerning of time and of how we are to react to the different occasions that come our way.” [5] Yes, there is a time for everything. And yes, there is an eternity for everyone – for you, for me, made beautiful in the human heart.

            The Teacher says, listen up! Be wise, and take heart. God is able, God is over all, and God loves us all. Whether in 2023, or 2024, and into eternity. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://cepreaching.org/commentary/lora-copley/ecclesiastes-31-11/

[2] Ibid.

[3]  Reader’s Digest, March 2006

[4] https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2014-12-15/ecclesiastes-31-13-2/

[5] Ibid.

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The Call of Wisdom (Repost)

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(I was away from the pulpit and St. Luke’s Church this morning, so I did not preach a sermon. However, here is a sermon from some years ago. This uses the Old Testament text for today, Trinity Sunday: Proverbs 8:1-4.)

“The Call of Wisdom”

Prov 8 wisdom better than rubies

Proverbs 8:1-5

One of my very favorite movies is “The Wizard of Oz.” In it, three of the main characters are personifications of qualities within each and every person. I’m sure you remember the Tim Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow. The Tin Woodman wanted a heart more than anything, because he wanted to be able to love. The Cowardly Lion wanted courage, since he was such a scaredy cat, he was afraid of his own shadow. And the Scarecrow wanted a brain, because he wanted to have good ideas and to think deep thoughts.

Here in this passage we just read today from Proverbs, we have another personification. Wisdom is seen as a woman, and not just any woman. Wisdom is seen as a giving person, as an open-handed person. She is at the crossroads, or important intersections, and at the gates of the town, where the town business takes place, calling like a herald. She is waiting and willing to give out wisdom and understanding to anyone who comes by!

If anyone is simple, or needs instruction, prudence or understanding, Lady Wisdom freely offers the gift of wisdom to anyone who will stop and accept it.

Which of us lacks intelligence sometimes? Which of us stumbles and makes mistakes every now and then, or sometimes even more often than that? Here, Lady Wisdom makes her offer of understanding and intelligence to anyone. “To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.”

There’s a complication, though. I’m sure you’ve known people who seem to know simply everything. Know-it-alls, that’s the only name for them. You can’t tell them anything, they won’t listen to anyone, they aren’t in the least teachable, and they go their own way. They wouldn’t even have the slightest interest in Lady Wisdom’s offer of wisdom, mostly because they’re so busy dispensing what “wisdom” they think they have to other people who haven’t even asked for it.

Let’s face it. It’s not only the know-it-alls who could use some wisdom from outside. Many of us today lack wisdom, and don’t even know it. Humanity’s situation is almost like a horse, wearing blinders. From what I understand, a horse is perfectly happy wearing blinders. Blinders don’t hurt a horse, but they very much restrict what a horse can see. That’s awfully limiting!! Not being able to see the whole picture, but forced to see only what’s straight ahead of you!  Not even knowing that I lack wisdom, or prudence, or understanding is a really tough situation. But it’s a real situation, one that many, many people are in today.

Let’s look at what the book of Proverbs says about foolish people, as opposed to wise people. Here’s a representative list from the first several chapters of the book: fools are called lazy, sluggards, lying, dishonest, ignorant, knowing nothing, complacent, and ignoring wisdom.

That description is pretty negative! Even mean and nasty! That’s one thing about the book of Proverbs. It doesn’t pull any punches. When the authors of Proverbs see something the matter, they name it. They call it as they see it, to use a baseball analogy. There’s nothing ambiguous or wavering about the word picture drawn by Proverbs.

What can be done about this situation? Is it hopeless?

The Epistle of James sheds some light on the subject of wisdom. Looking at Chapter 1, verse 5, let’s listen to the words from the Apostle: “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.” So here, in the book of James, we have God making the offer of wisdom, again!

So, not only do we see a personification of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8, waiting for us, urging us to reach out for wisdom, but here in the book of James, God wants us to ask for wisdom! God is more than willing to give it. The Apostle James says that God gives to all, generously and ungrudgingly! That’s good news!

So, even when we’re faced with new, unknown circumstances or a different kind of puzzle, we do have somewhere to turn. We can go to God, pray to God for wisdom and understanding, and God will come through! He will not leave us alone and helpless, struggling in a pool of foolishness.

Can any of us imagine the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” NOT asking for a brain? That’s one great thing about that character! He wasn’t afraid to ask. He wasn’t shy. And neither should we be. We can certainly step right up and ask! And God gives to all, generously and ungrudgingly.

This free, gracious offer of wisdom can serve as a guide through difficult and puzzling cirecumstances. We can see that God is with us, and will be there for us through thick and thin, through the good times and the not-so-good times.

Whenever we’re uncertain, puzzled, in need of wisdom, God has made us the best offer of all–the offer of His wisdom. Praise God we have such a good and generous God, Who so willingly and lovingly gives us generous gifts and guides us along every winding road.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my regular blog for 2016: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and my other blog,  A Year of Being Kind .  Thanks!)