- Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench;
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. -
We are called to imitate Jesus. We are made in God’s image. We are to be holy because God is holy. Stating the obvious here, but that is a lot of pressure.
Many times, when we read the gospels or the Old Testament stories, we look at the Jews and wonder how they could be so blind.
Rarely do we ever slow down to think that the people the Bible is talking about are people just like us, prideful, arrogant, and shortsighted.
Jesus might tell us we are living in the flesh, not the Spirit.
If we compare the actions of those groups of people to our verse today, we might say that describing their actions as foolish is perhaps too generous.
They had the only Son of God in their midst speaking in a way that they were told to expect, and they didn’t recognize Him.
Doesn’t seem like a minor mistake.
Now, we are at the same risk as the Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles whom Jesus and the early church interacted with, but we have one distinct advantage. The in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit.
We don’t understand this mystery fully, except to say that God speaks to us all directly if we are willing to listen.
What does this look like?
It’s found in a prompting to act that feels contrary to your nature. It’s the explanation of a Bible verse that has been alluding you. It’s a brother calling and speaking God’s truth into your life.
In a sense, it is the whole world coming together. A feeling as if heaven and earth are properly meeting in your heart and that God is being worshipped and exalted all within the same moment.
It is as if there are no flies in the ointment. It is as if there is no foolishness in some wisdom from a friend. Apples of gold in settings of silver.
Well, those are wonderful moments, but are they not rare? We don’t live in that state for long, and when we do experience it, a single self-thought makes it disappear immediately.
What does this mean? Perhaps we are the fly in this current state. Undoubtedly, we are fools because the event we experience in God’s presence escapes our articulation.
But, God appears to keep inviting us back to those moments! If we are faithful in the small, does He not say we will be faithful in the large?
We are not to be children. The storms of life come whether or not we are men or babies, but only men can pull babies out of floods.
What is the lesson God is attempting to show us? That our goal is to be there, not in a space, not just a time, but in a space, time, and belief.
We are to be there more often. We are to stay there longer. But how can we enjoy the pleasing aroma of His presence? How can we not be fools anymore?
By picking out the flies. By listening to His word. By craving the work of our Father more than our physical bread. A task we can never hope to complete in this body.
Yet a victory He has already won.
Ecclesiastes 10:1