Wisdom's Call

I stood on my back porch on Saturday afternoon and proudly declared, “Victory is mine!” I’m pretty sure any of my neighbors who heard my emphatic declaration thought I was crazy. I was simply excited that I had finally won the war against the neighborhood wasp army.  

Hundreds of wasps chose to reside under our brick porch throughout the summer, which meant we were held captive in our own home.  At one point, while family members were visiting, my brother-in-law was stung after being outside for all of about 60 seconds.  

In the following weeks, I blasted their home with wasp spray, I caulked their entrance closed, and I broke two fly swatters in my passionate efforts to enable my daughters to once again play in our yard. My works proved to be relatively futile though as the wasps were still multiplying by the day.  

This is when my strategy became more subtle, and I decided that I would try trapping them rather than blasting and swatting. It’s amazing how well it worked. I soaked a cotton ball in wasp attractant and placed it inside a trap, and I spent the next few weeks watching one wasp after the next fly through the cone and die inside. There were about 50 dead wasps stacked on top of each other, and still there were other wasps trying to get inside. I thought to myself, how dumb can you be? Can’t you see the pile of dead wasps who tried the same thing?

Isn’t this the allure that sin has? It looks good and smells good, so we become ignorant of the consequences and go for it. It started with Adam and Eve and continues to this day. Why would the enemy change his strategy if he knows this trap works so well? He is counting on us to be so compelled by the attractant that we choose ignorance over wisdom. 

Ignorance is an interesting thing. I lived most of my college years in ignorance. I was drawn to sin, and I refused to lift my eyes to see reality. When the consequences of my actions caught up with me, as they always will, I experienced the heartache and  impact of many bad decisions.  Quite simply, I chose ignorance over wisdom and emptiness over relationship with God. How could I be so dumb?

Speaking of ignorance, I was sitting in the hot tub at our local gym yesterday enjoying the 105 degree water when I began to think about what was actually in the water.  How many people had suddenly experienced a loss of bladder control while enjoying the same hot tub?  I chose not to think about it. It’s easy to play the ignorance card when something feels good.

This whole process has led me to evaluate my own life. What are the traps that have been set for me? What is the attractant that I may be prone to pursue? These are questions we must consider as we heed the Apostle Paul’s instruction to carefully inspect our lives. 

May we all reject ignorance and embrace a deeper level of wisdom. Let us open our ears and respond to wisdom's call—even if she is a real party crasher. 

She’s also a life saver.