Walk with the Wise, Bear Fruit in a Dry Land

4 Walk with the wise

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Proverbs 13:20

Walking together always brings conflict, because everyone sees things from a different angle. My older sister and I often disagree too. She's wise in this area, and I'm wise in that one. As long as we don't run, and we stay and put the puzzle together, we see our own blind spots in each other, and through confession and repentance we become more and more like Jesus. That's what "in thy light shall we see light" means.

The disciples ate and lived with Jesus for over three years, and all along the way Jesus corrected their values: "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister." That's something you learn slowly, in relationships. That's why our course has companions and small groups. When you open your heart in a place with no condemnation and unconditional acceptance, and bring your shame into the light, you receive life. The more you open your heart, the more you receive.

A lot of people don't want to walk with the wise, because they feel they don't measure up, so they'd rather go help people weaker than themselves. I used to be like that. Later God led me, at every stage of my life, to follow the best teacher in that field and learn from them one on one. I've found that passing things on through discipleship is the fastest way.

People who immigrate to Canada first often have to build everything from scratch, while a local who inherits their parents' house can put their energy into other things. Spiritual things have an "inheritance" too. Elisha followed Elijah closely, and in the end what he asked for was: "Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." (2 Kings 2:9) When Moses was too worn out to go on, God said to him:

I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

Numbers 11:17

So you're not starting from zero here. The detours our team has taken over more than twenty years, and the wisdom we've gained, God wants to pass on to you freely. All you have to do is be willing to take it.

Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

Proverbs 14:1

Eve picked the fruit because she wanted the fruit that could make a person wise. Proverbs 8 pictures wisdom as a woman crying out at the city gates. One of a woman's callings is to build her home with wisdom. A heart that has been broken lets the truth drop from the head down into the heart. When we share our testimony with a heart like that, we can reach other people's hearts.

A flower in a greenhouse and a rose in the desert are two different kinds of growing. Israel, surrounded by enemies, short of water and dry, ended up developing drip irrigation, and it became a blessing to the world. My own life has been like that too. For twenty years my husband was in and out of hospital, and I had to run the company, look after the kids, care for my mother, and on top of that I took orphans and widows into our home. I was the weakest one, yet God made me bear more and more fruit in a dry land. Every piece of our course was received from God in the middle of suffering.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel 12:3

A quilt made of scraps

Before the course started, my younger sister saw a picture while she was praying: Jesus holding glue, sticking together scraps of cloth, each a different pattern and shape, into a warm quilt. She asked the Lord what the glue was, and the Lord said, "It's my love."

Each of us is like one of those scraps. Maybe you feel you're the smallest, most ordinary piece, but without you, this quilt isn't complete.

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:2–3