The Big Picture Spiritual Journey

Get wisdom! Get understanding! - Proverbs 4:5

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann teaches that the big picture of the spiritual journey is laid out in the very structure of the Old Testament: Torah (Law), Prophets, and Wisdom Literature.

The Law is ordered and clear and certain. Most of us start our spiritual journey that way - around City Church we call it Construction - and it brings great comfort even though it doesn’t quite match the complexity of the world around us and inside us.

Then come the Old Testament Prophets who raise questions, criticize the status quo, and make Israel face its dark side. For us, this is the season of Deconstruction - where our doubts, failures, and challenges tear down our oversimplified religion.

Finally, there is the Wisdom literature (Ecclesiastes, Job, many Psalms, Proverbs), when nuance is introduced, where the structure of the Law combines with the justice of the Prophets and a new form of spirituality emerges that is full of wisdom in how to face the daily grind with hopefulness and insight. We’ve called this Reconstruction - when we’ve moved through both an oversimplified faith and an over-cynical faith into a life-giving season of embracing mystery while connecting with God, people, and mission.

Do you have a sense of where you are on that journey right now? Ask God to help you do what Proverbs 4:5 commands, to get wisdom.