Sentenced

God desires for us to appropriate His wisdom for the decisions we have to make.  In 2nd Chronicles
chapter 1, we read about a conversation that God had with King Solomon:
7 On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask! What shall I give you?"
8 And Solomon said to God: "You have shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place.
9 Now, O Lord God, let Your promise to David my father be established, for You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.
10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?"

He is regarded as the wisest man who ever lived - and here, we see why.  God gave Solomon an open invitation to ask for anything, and he requested wisdom.  The Bible tells us in James that if anyone lacks wisdom, that person should ask of God.  God provides wisdom to us in His Word, so that we can conform to His will.  Through our exposure to the truth, we can find the keys to knowing Him and knowing His ways.  It is so critical that we make the pursuit of Biblical truth a priority in our lives.

+++++

In Proverbs chapter 8, we see the personification of the entity of wisdom; i.e. wisdom is speaking
here. We read:
12 "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.

Judge William Mallory sits on the bench in the Cincinnati area and has attained quite a reputation for "creative" sentencing, as we might say.

And, the sentence he meted out to 23-year-old Jake Strotman would certainly fit the category. According to Cincinnati.com, Strotman had attended a hockey game with some buddies and there had been some alcohol consumption. He approached a group of Baptist street preachers and Jake said he "gave them my two-cents worth."

He is quoted as saying, "They were telling me I was going to hell..." He continued, "I was asking them: 'Why do you think you can condemn people?' I didn't understand why they thought they could judge me."

Well someone else, according to Strotman, then, as he put it, "started going off like a ball of fire." This was followed by screaming, threats, the breaking of a camera, a push and a shove, and as the newspaper said, "the fray was on."  Strotman ended up at the bottom of a pile - he pushed himself up with one hand and planted his other one on the face of preacher Joshua Johnson, near his glasses, which cut him.  Strotman was charged with low-level assault.

Now, back to Judge Mallory - in court, he expressed a reluctance to send Jake to jail, so he said he was open to suggestions.  Strotman gave him one: "Your honor, if I may, I would be more than happy to serve a church of your choosing." The Judge said to Johnson, "So for his penance, what if I make him go to your church a number of Sunday services?" The deal was done: Strotman's sentence was to attend 12 consecutive Sunday services at Morning Star Baptist Church. He was ordered to attend each entire 90-minute service. He must get the weekly program signed by the minister.   Strotman is a Catholic.  He also paid some court fees and attorney's fees.

Strotman is quoted as saying: "I think it's a nice example of hearing people out instead of getting angry and jumping to conclusions," adding, "I'm going to listen with both my ears and keep my mouth shut...''

Got to hand it to the judge, although he gave seemingly a bit of tepid rebuke to the street preachers for being overly aggressive, it seems.  But, he also declared that he was a man of faith.  The judge is an example of someone who was willing to set aside the boilerplate and craft a new direction.  We may be placed in situations requiring "out-of-the-box" thinking - well, God can take us outside that box and show us ways that are beyond human understanding.   He is the source of wisdom.

Also, Strotman's sentence, well, he might just get some godly wisdom out of it.  The Bible reminds us that God's Word, will not return void.  What Jake heard on the street, and what he will hear in the church, are instances of the proclamation of God's truth.  We never know how God's Word is registering on the human soul, and perhaps those seeds - from our mouths or the mouths of others - can have the lasting effect of bearing fruit for the glory of God.