Wisdom’s Call

The Lord has called; that is, He called with a loud voice, or cried aloud. So it is written in the Holy Scriptures: “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets.” We also would do so if we would see someone ready to walk into a deep canal. Because we would see it from a distance, we would cry out aloud, “Stop, don’t go on!”

When the Lord thus cries out to a sinner, it is a sign that the sinner is far from God. He is straying away from God more and more. The Lord cries, “Hearken unto Me, ye stout hearted, that are far from righteousness.” This crying is also a sign that the sinner is dull of hearing. Moreover, it is a warning from the Lord, as if to say: “I warn you, you are on the way to destruction. You will go lost unless you are converted. If you remain on this way of destruction, you sin against your own soul, and it is a sure sign that you love death.”

This crying aloud characterizes the sleeping state of the sinner. The Lord cries, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.” “What meanest thou, O sleeper!” The Lord calls earnestly by the mouth of Jeremiah, “O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord!” as if to say: “O sinner, sinner, sinner, I do not desire your death! O sinner, awake.” Likewise the Lord spreads out His arms, as we read, “I have spread out My hands all the day unto a rebellious people.”

The person who is calling here is the supreme Wisdom, that is, the Lord Jesus. He is Wisdom Himself. In the Old Testament, He was described as the supreme Teacher. “Who teacheth like Him?” asked Elihu. This same name was used more than once in the Proverbs of Solomon. Of this supreme Wisdom it is said, “Wisdom is justified of her children.” The Lord Jesus is named by this name because in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge stored. He reveals the secret counsel and will of God concerning salvation. It is He, “who of God is made unto us wisdom.” Time and time again the supreme Wisdom has called. He has spread out His hands. He has advised and reprimanded. All these outward remedies He has used to lead people to repentance and salvation. He did everything that could be done to move them to do good. He could say, “What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? I have called, I have stretched out My hands, I have given the best advice, and I have reproved them.”

This refusing to listen to God is becoming almost universal in our country. Even when conscience convinces men that they are wrong, they resist the Lord a thousand times. The one says, “I am too young.” Another speaks, “I have married a wife.” A third one says, “I have no time; I have many cares for my business and my household.” Thus they refuse. The Lord does not gain an entrance into their hearts.

They are not attentive to God’s outstretched arms. For thousands of people it is becoming too much to be attentive. When they are in church, they do not listen carefully. A sleeping member is sometimes praised above an attentive listener. To our deep grief, we observe that this is the spiritual condition of thousands. They have chosen sin and do not want to be disturbed in their sinful way.

Oh, may it please God that our name of shame may be changed into a name of honor! Therefore sinner, stand still and return from your way of sin; otherwise you may be too late to be heard by God. May God give us grace to listen to Him, to trust in Him, and to be faithful unto Him to all eternity.

Rev. B. Smytegelt (1665-1739), a renowned Dutch Second Reformation divine whose writings have been blessed to many, pastored at Borssele, Goes, and Middelburg.

Far and Near the Fields Are Teeming

Far and near the fields are teeming
With the waves of ripened grain;
Far and near their gold is gleaming
Over the sunny slope and plain.

Lord of harvest, send forth reapers;
Hear us, Lord, to Thee we cry;
Send them now the sheaves to gather,
Ere the harvest-time pass by.

Send them forth with morn’s beaming,
Send them in the noontide’s glare;
When the sun’s last rays are gleaming,
Bid them gather everywhere.

Lord of harvest, send forth reapers;
Hear us, Lord, to Thee we cry;
Send them now the sheaves to gather,
Ere the harvest-time pass by.

Thou whom Christ the Lord is sending,
Gather now the sheaves of gold;
Heavenward then at evening wending,
Thou shalt come with joy untold.

Lord of harvest, send forth reapers;
Hear us, Lord, to Thee we cry;
Send them now the sheaves to gather,
Ere the harvest-time pass by.

— J.O. Thompson

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