"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."
Proverbs 24:3,4 (NIV)
We need wisdom more than wealth; we need it more than anything.
We have to search for wisdom, because it doesn’t drop out of the sky on your head.
We have to pray for wisdom, because God is the One from whom all wisdom comes.
We had a great town hall meeting at Parkdale on Tuesday night, and one of the topics was the Preferred Building Plan. The architect that the deacons had hired did a wonderful job of explaining the principles and process behind the plan, and TJ did a great job of leading the congregation through a discussion of the dollars required. As I processed the meeting internally, I was reminded of these two verses in Proverbs, and I closed the meeting in prayer asking God to give us wisdom.
It is true that this saying is about us building our own homes; we pick the location, we make up the plan, we find the money, we build, we move in, we decorate, we add furniture and then we add children, and our house becomes a home, and it is established - it even gets its own reputation in the community. But this proverb, like all of the proverbs, has a spiritual meaning as well as a physical meaning. The spiritual meaning is revealed in Hebrews 3 and has to do with the Lord using His wisdom to build His spiritual house, and His wisdom in filling its rooms with rare and beautiful treasures, which are - believe it or not – US! Our Lord told us in John 14 that His Father’s house has many rooms, and that he has gone before us to prepare a place for us - which is a beautiful and comforting truth!
Many of us don’t like building projects at church. For some reason we get our backs up and think somehow that it is “unspiritual” to spend money on physical structures. Yet, only in a local church building is the physical and spiritual meaning of this proverb fully realized. We have and will again build rooms here at 514 Sidney Street. They will made of wood, cement and steel, and yet - the treasures that fill them as children come and go, as adults come and go, as the elderly come and go - the treasures that fill these earthly rooms are the same treasures that will fill God’s spiritual house!
Friends, we need wisdom. The deacons need wisdom, and the congregation needs wisdom, both to build rooms, and also to fill this church with rare and beautiful treasures. May God grant us the wisdom to build our addition, to establish His reputation, and to fill His rooms with rare and beautiful treasures! Please join me in praying in a regular consistent way for God to give us the wisdom we need, over these next months/years as we move ahead with this renovation.
Click here to read Hebrews 3:1-6 and Proverbs 2:1-11
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