My husband likes to change the channel to the news network whenever the show he's watching is commercialing and, over the past year or two, I've been amazed by how often the discussion on the news is about the same thing for hours on end, just with different announcers and different guests. It's the same on all of the news networks, not just the one Paul watches. It's not the fault of the networks or the announcers, necessarily, just the fact that they have 24 hours to fill and only so many news stories to share.
I thought of those news announcers, and their guests, filling the hours when I read the beginning of Proverbs 8 recently. Here are verses 1-6:
Listen as Wisdom calls out!
Hear as understanding raises her voice!
On the hilltop along the road,
she takes her stand at the crossroads.
By the gates at the entrance to the town,
on the road leading in, she cries aloud,
“I call to you, to all of you!
I raise my voice to all people.
You simple people, use good judgment.
You foolish people, show some understanding.
Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you.
Wisdom is personified in Proverbs as a woman who is calling out to humanity, encouraging us to listen to her. Not only is she calling out, but she is going out to the crossroads and to the gates of the town, the most crowded places around. She's trying hard to be seen and heard by the people so they will stop and pay attention to her words.
Wisdom isn't just filling the hours, sharing the same story over and over again. She has life changing insight to share with us. Insight that could change the way we live and how we relate to God and to other people. But she has to get our attention before she can share it with us.
Then, of course, she also has to keep our attention.
When the news programs are going to commercials, the announcers will offer some hint of what will be coming on after the break, something to make viewers want to keep watching rather than switching to something else. They are aware that they are fighting against a lot of other things calling out for our attention, like other news networks, all the other TV shows, movies, social media and Youtube videos of funny cats or adorable babies.
Wisdom also has to fight all of those distractions as she calls out for our attention.
"Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you," she says in verse 6. That sounds to me like when I'm trying to tell Nathan something and I know he's not really paying attention and he's going to miss what I have to say. I often tell him to look at me so I can be sure I have his full attention before I say it again. Wisdom is practically waving her arms on the side of the road, trying to get us to look at her so we are really paying attention to what she has to teach us.
I wonder how much wisdom we miss out on because we're so focused on those other things that are calling out to us that we never even hear her voice.
The last sentence is so true! We hear what we want to hear, or whatever is loudest, even though it may not be in the least bit important...
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