You learn a lot about someone when you sit down to eat with them. You don’t just learn their table manners and favorite foods, but you also learn more about what makes them tick. People really open up when food is served. It disarms us, relaxes us, soothes us, and then we can really connect with each other. Maybe that’s why the invitation of wisdom in Proverbs 9:4-6 to sit down to a meal makes so much sense:
If we can get to know each other better and faster over sharing a meal, imagine what advantage we would have by sitting down to a meal with wisdom! Her offer is for you to taste the main course of her experience and God-given counsel. She offers us a cup of wine mixed to produce the intoxication of wise living.
Wisdom is not something we obtain by hoping we get it. Wisdom is often obtained by “sharing meals” with the Lord, who is ultimately wise. How do we sit down to THAT meal?
Read the Bible
It makes sense to start with the written revelation of God. Drink in huge amounts of the Bible. It’s okay if you don’t understand all you’re reading. You’ll understand enough to begin to eat of the morsels of wisdom.
Pray
It’s critical that we spend time aligning our appetites to the One who called us out of famine into feast. After all, dear Christian brothers and sisters, it’s His meal and His table. We pray because we need to pray.
Act
Part of wisdom is acting on it. Lest we forget the old expression: it’s one thing to know there’s a rattlesnake in the grass; it’s another thing to stay out of the grass! Knowing good “stuff” about the Bible is fine but if we don’t put it into practice, it’s a waste of time.
Let’s make a real commitment this week of finding the place reserved for us at the table of wisdom and getting the utensils of spiritual discipline, let’s feast to a true advantageous meal.
Life Meets Theology 