Honoring God and Wisdom

'Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.'
exodus 20.24

All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined to be wise"— but this was beyond me. Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound— who can discover it? So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.
eccl. 7.23-25

this has been a busy week for me. work has be exceptionally busy, and after work i'm staying with a friend of mine who recently had hip replacement surgery. oh and somehow in the midst of all that, i lost my cell phone for 3 days. last night was a much needed let down - it was game night with some friends; it was a wonderful comic relief to the busyness of life. certainly good for the soul!

so last saturday i was reading exodus 20, the big 10, and stumbled across this verse tacked on the end. Yahweh says, "wherever i cause My Name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you." where has God caused His Name to be honored in my life? what points can i identify as movements of God? what have i done to honor Him - what altars have i constructed for others to see that i worship the Living God? am i looking for Him to make His Name honored in my life? am i giving Him sufficient time? this week i haven't giving Him my time. last week, i was intentionly giving him time everyday... oh to be able to set aside time daily to surrender my life will to His...

(with all those questions in the previous paragraph, i feel like i'm writing a bible study!!!!)

oh the importance of 'selah' - pause and calmly consider.

and last night before my head hit the pillow at midnight... my eyes fell upon these verses about wisdom. when i was younger, mostly in middle school when my faith was developing in leaps in bounds, i remember earnestly praying for wisdom. i remember reading verses in Proverbs about how important it is to have wisdom. i would get on my knees next to my bed and meditate and pray for God to bestow wisdom upon me. i still find myself praying for wisdom often, perhaps not quite as earnestly, (the old age symptoms of knowing wisdom comes with time and age are setting in.) this verse about desiring to 'turn my mind to understand, to investiage and to search out wisdom,' still grabs my attention.

if i had wisdom when i was given my first credit card, i would not be in this debt now. if i had demonstrated wisdom with my sexuality, i would not have had to confess as often as i did... and still do. but i don't feel God let me down or didn't answer my prayers for wisdom. He answered in more ways that i could have asked. when i asked for wisdom, He strengthened my faith, gave me 'proof' that He exists, opened doors for me to experience the work of the gospel. also, my grades in elementary school were average, in middle school and high school they were above average, and some how i managed to graduate with honors. that has to be some form of wisdom...

so what can i do to pursue wisdom? what can i do t oturn my mind to understand and investigate wisdom?

Jesus,
may You in Your abundant grace give me wisdom. if it pleases You, give me ears and eyes to recognize where You are causing Your Name to be honored. may i have all that is needed to build an altar where my humble sacrifice may be may given unto You. and may this humble sacrifice be pleasing in Your sight, worthy of Your Name and honor.
in Jesus' Name ~ Amen
*Melody *Cathy *Glenn