Throughout the Bible many different feasts were celebrated for varying reasons. Some feasts were to get closer to God and enjoy His provision, others were more sobering – times of repentance and remembering the deliverance of the Lord from the hand of the enemy. And some feasts were just joyous occasions, like the wedding celebration where Jesus did His first recorded miracle. The thing about feasts, or any type of celebration for that matter, is that all the preparations can be made, the invitations can be sent, but if no one shows up it’s not much of a party. It is exactly this type of scenario that Jesus uses to describe what the Kingdom of God is like. What a lot of people do not realize is that wisdom is also described as a lavishly prepared feast available to all in Proverbs 9:1-6. This understanding that the people whom Jesus was addressing probably knew of the teaching from Proverbs of the lavish feast being compared to wisdom, it is possible that Jesus was also alluding to people who enter “the Feast of the Lord” (the Kingdom of God) as people who are wise.
The understanding that wisdom is for the Kingdom of God, really brought better clarification to me about the verse in Matthew 22:1-14 where a person who attended the feast of the Lord with the wrong attire was scolded and asked to leave, or basically thrown out to the dogs. I honestly, did not get this part of the parable for a long time and felt that it was rather harsh to kick someone out after inviting them in. In light of the relationship between wisdom and the Kingdom of God, I now understand that verse to be about exercising wisdom to gain entrance to the Kingdom and to remain partaker of Kingdom rights and benefits. The man that was asked to leave the feast was not wrong for showing up, he was invited at a last minute’s notice. However, because he took the invitation and the feast its self lightly, by arriving casually dressed he was asked to leave. Most of us at this point still may sympathize with the man, he still did better than those originally invited but who refused to attend. In fact, it was a last minute invitation, can’t he get a break? According to this parable, it can be concluded that when the man accepted the invitation he also accepted the responsibility to prepare himself for the type of event that he would attend. Some Christian denominations still teach what the expectations of a saved, born again believer in Christ are, however for Christianity as a whole it is much like this wedding feast invitation scenario, most people assume that everyone knows what the expectations are. Plus if we don’t know what is required, we have the Bible, so for in many instances there is no excuse to be without wisdom in the Kingdom. This is a hard lesson to learn, I’m learning it also, but we have to apply the wisdom that we have from God in order to be fit for the Kingdom.
I have done a lot of unwise things, made bad choices, and have to face the repercussions of them, however if you are the same way, there is still hope! In James 1:5, it is revealed that the invitation to feast on the wisdom of the Lord is still available and will be given when we ask for it. If you keep facing the same issues, there is wisdom available for that. Some times that wisdom will show us what we need to do, what we need to give to God, or what type of attitude/perception that we need to have concerning it that issue. Sometimes wisdom involves steps and processes, all of which we need to be willing to participate in and surrender to if we want to receive the fruit of wisdom working in that situation. Also wisdom alone may not solve it, a lot of times wisdom (knowing when and why to do something) will not be fully activated until we start to apply it to our lives. Besides asking for wisdom in prayer to God, we can also seek wisdom in the counsel of other Godly believers, studying the scriptures, and observing what is working for other people. The main key is to keep God first and be led by Him, His ways are higher than ours so anything we do led by Him will prove to be wise.
Don’t forget, the feast was prepared but there were still some who refused to partake. Wisdom, although it is made ready for us to take hold of at any time, it will not be force fed to us. God desires that as we walk with Him that we will begin to desire to know His ways. He does not tell us everything or micro manage us because He wants us to come to Him with the questions and desires of our hearts. When it seems like God is silent, that is the time to draw closer to Him, seeking to hear His voice. Through “seeking” wisdom by going to God to ask for it, after a while we will realize that we were really seeking more of Him the whole time because He is wisdom/Omniscient/All-Knowing/God.
Let’s Pray: Father God thank You for providing to us all of the wisdom that we need for every situation and circumstance. Lord thank You for being a rewarder of those that diligently seek You, for when we seek You wisdom is imparted to us. Lord please lead and empower us to apply the wisdom that You release to us. Help us to be doers of the Word, not hearers only that You may get the Glory and You will be done on earth. Lord if there is an area in our lives where we are resistant to the wisdom that You gave us, please forgive us and help us to take the steps needed to apply wisdom. Lord help us to share the wisdom that we received from You with others so that they will want to know You too. If we ever start to think that the wisdom we apply are our own thoughts and ideas, please gently remind us that in You we live, move, and have our being, without You we are nothing. Lord please help us to endure and complete any process of divine wisdom that You have initiated in our lives that we may reap the fruit of it in Jesus name. Lord teach us to discern between Your holy wisdom and the wisdom of the world and align our hearts to always prefer Your wisdom over anything the world can offer. Lord You use the foolish things to confuse the wise according to the world, help us to submit to do the things that seem foolish but are expressions of Your divine wisdom. Lord You are faithful, forgiving, and kind please help us to exercise wisdom by not taking advantage of Your grace and granting You first place in our lives in the Mighty Name of Jesus AMEN!
As always, thank you for reading and please share with anyone who would be blessed by this message.
Blessings Always,
Dionne Renae
Lessons 'n Blessings 