“The Lord formed and brought me [Wisdom] forth at the beginning of His way, before His acts of old. I [Wisdom] was inaugurated and ordained from everlasting, from the beginning, before ever the earth existed…Then I [Wisdom] was beside Him as a master and director of the work; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always, Rejoicing in His inhabited earth and delighting in the sons of men. Now, therefore listen to me, O you sons; for blessed—happy, fortunate [to be envied]—are those who keep my ways.” (Proverbs 8:22-22, 30-32, The Amplified Bible). [Read Proverbs 8]Wisdom again personified in Chapter 8 of Proverbs is presented as from everlasting, present with God in Creation from the foundation of the world. The poetic and powerful account of wisdom’s place in God’s Kingdom and His plan for the created order, the crowning creation which is mankind, is ably stated in Proverbs 8. The whole account of Wisdom’s place and being present with God looks forward to Christ’s identification of Himself in John 1:1: “In the beginning [before all time] was the Word [Christ] and the Word was God, and the Word was God Himself.” (Amplified Bible).
Wisdom is worthy to be sought for God exercised wisdom from the beginning. Wisdom is an eternal aspect of God’s being and underlies all elements of creation. Wisdom was present and active in how God put everything together so that the natural world can sustain life. We who live and move and have our being in the world where God placed us are therefore to follow Wisdom’s ways to keep the right balance and perspective. God wants to teach us His ways (Wisdom) through every experience of our life. Even in Proverbs, God is preparing the way for the deeper and more personal introduction of Wisdom: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (John 1:14a). We should stand amazed that the very wisdom of God, operable from everlasting to everlasting, is a gift from the Creator to us. We have the power to think, to reason, to accept truth, to absorb and apply wisdom. Is it any wonder, then, that God put within us the desire to seek wisdom and delight and rejoice in it? We are made in His image, and wisdom is a part of Who He is. Personified and seeking to be the companion to any who are serious about finding Wisdom, the Person Wisdom in this section of Proverbs ends with the strong invitation: “Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me [Wisdom], watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway, For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 8:33-35, NIV).
c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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