PDF Sermon Manuscript: Proverbs - Everyday Wisdom - Wisdom
It was one of the strangest concerts to ever take place. January 12, 2007—the time was 7:51AM—rush hour. Commuters were hurrying through the L’Enfant Plaza Subway Station in Washington, D.C. A man took out a violin and began to play for the next forty-three minutes. During that time just over a thousand people walked by. As people rushed by on their way to work, they were faced with a choice. Stop and listen? Admire the beauty? Throw some loose change in the open violin case? Or keep moving due to the demands of time?
Only seven people briefly stopped to admire his performance. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run. In total he received $32 and some change. So what’s the big deal? Well, the violinist happened to be a man named Joshua Bell—one of the greatest violinists of all time. He annually books more than 200 international engagements per year. Three days before he stood in the Metro station, he was playing to a filled house at Boston’s Symphony Hall. A decent seat to hear him play went for $100. But on that Friday morning, in his street clothes and a baseball cap, playing a $3.5 million Stradivarius violin, no one paid him much attention. Almost no one stopped to observe the flawless execution of Bach pieces. And when he was finished, there was no applause or standing ovation. Maybe the subway riders that morning had no ability to recognize how well it was played because they weren’t trained musicians themselves. Or perhaps they were so focused on the tyranny of the urgent that they refused to slow down, listen, and take it all in.
Why do I tell you that story? Because in a sense it illustrates what Solomon said in Proverbs 1:20–21: “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy street she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks.” You see, God wants to speak into our lives a type of wisdom that only he can provide. Amidst the busyness of life and the competing voices of culture, the wisdom of God is made available to all of us in a life-changing way. The question is, “Are we willing to slow down, listen, and take it all in? Or will we pass by, unaware of the beauty and power of biblical wisdom?”