Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Proverbs 8 and incompetence

In Proverbs 8 Lady Wisdom declares

I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength.
By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;
By me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.


In other words, if you want to govern properly, you need wisdom, God's wisdom. God created and ordered the world by his wisdom (Proverbs 8:27-31) and therefore no surprise if we want to run the world properly we need to do so by his wisdom too. Consequently, ever since humanity grasped for autonomy in Eden, substituting the wisdom of God with the folly of the serpent, we haven't been very good at governing the world, or even our own little lives, very well at all.

This past week has contained many illustrations of this fact.

In particular, the assisting the in-laws in trying to complete on the purchase of a flat has revealed the level of human incompetency to govern anything, never mind the whole planet. The past week has revealed a string of errors, incompetencies and inefficiencies on the part of the seller's solicitor, all conducted with the belligerence of someone who cannot admit their errors (or is simply oblivious to what is really going on).

Other illustrations would include the not-so-helpful lady at the millenium eye ticket office and the restaurant staff who tried to fit four of us around a table for two.

Conclusion:

1. Us human beings couldn't organise a bun-fight in a bakery. No wonder the bible asserts that we are weak, fallen, foolish and corrupt.

2. Ι will try to remember next time I am frustrated with administrative inefficiency and general incompetence that it's a small sign of our need for Christ, God's wisdom. There will be no unnecessary queues (and certainly no inefficient solicitors) in his consummated kingdom.

1 comment:

Big Pete said...

I am amazed as you and i are of similar dimensions that the waitress didn't try to squeeze the 4 of you round a table for 8!