"The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and ---my delights were with the sons of men---.
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death."
- Proverbs 8:22-36 (KJV)
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Last week, we saw that the spirit of Wisdom was a gift given to humanity - enabling us to apply -God's Word- to consistently make -correct and skillful choices- in our day to day practical life.
This connection between the Spiritual (the Bible/Word, "religion") and day-to-day living may seem strange to us. After all, we have spent a great deal of time REMOVING the Bible from moral education at the lower and higher grade-levels in our schools. We have even tried to remove the symbols of the Law (10 commandment plaques etc.) from our government and judicial institutions --- because we don't think that the Bible has any practical wisdom to offer to our statesmen and governing authorities - or rather - any wisdom it MAY have to offer is largely irrelevant to the issues of our modern day. Really? ... lets take a closer look...
Before we start to unpack our text this week, we would like to remind you about some features of the REALITY we live in.
A. Man is a spiritual/mental being encased in a body of flesh. While this body may dictate our outward appearance (race, color, eyes, nose, body type, metabolism, etc.) ... inside.... we are all living souls! It is the person inside that is the "driver", the body being the "car" that takes us place to place.
This person "inside" is motivated by physical things for sure... Food, Clothing, Shelter, Safety/Security.... but once these are met, we start to hunger for the true Spiritual things.... Love/Relationships, Recognition by our peers, Self esteem/Self actualization, and then the drives to help our fellow man. (MBA's will recognize Maslow's hierarchy of needs...). These are MENTAL/SPIRITUAL drives that are just AS REAL as the physical drives we humans have.
B. This world is driven by Information. This information could be the arrangement of atoms to form a particular element (Gold, Silver, Hydrogen, Oxygen etc.). It could be the way information is transferred... e.g. Heat from your cooktop to the food being cooked, Light from the Sun bouncing off your surroundings and entering your eyeball... words being spoken by others entering your ears as sound, and being interpreted as concepts..
Language is a means of conveying Information, and we are living in an Age where Information is being produced, consumed, and processed in ever increasing quantities by people and computers alike to produce actionable "insights"... into customers, into business processes, into automation (e.g. robots and self-driving cars), into Artifical Intelligence.
What does this mean? It means that our Universe can be thought of as a sea of information, configured to look and behave in ways that are predictable, and can be discovered by man ... himself an information processing and creating creature!
So to our text..... with the backdrop above, we can see how INTRINSIC, wisdom (the right application of INFORMATION) and SKILL is to the evidence of God's handiwork all around us.
Flaming Sunsets are made out of dirt/dust, and water, diamonds from coal, rainbows from drops of water and light, every star is different in its makeup and organization! The text tells us that it was GOD's WISDOM, that organized and spoke into existence these concepts in His Spirit, that created the poetic workmanship of the World that meets our eyes. It is governed by His Wisdom, and man, is the highest creation in the midst of all of this.... as Man can receive the Spirit of Wisdom and apply it to have dominion over this planet.
Wisdom is intrinsic to God's Nature... and has existed with Him "from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.". This wisdom, though Spiritual in origin (God is a Spirit), is manifested, very PRACTICALLY, in the world we see around us. Springtime and Harvest, the Biological ecosystem, the Water Cycle, the boundaries of the oceans... even the creation of Man Himself... the Spiritual was made Physical.
It is the same when Man applies wisdom and creativity. The spiritual or mental ideas take form, and are brought into existence as pieces of art, engineering, literature, science, economics, sport, war, .... the list is endless. Again, we are spiritual creatures living in, and manipulating a material world with our wisdom.
What is our point?
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Answer : Wisdom is a spiritual thing... discerned and applied by spiritual beings... to create and manipulate our reality. The LORD applied Wisdom to create this Universe we live in... it sprang forth, fully formed, when He spoke into existence what was in His Mind to do! We, as mini-gods (lower case "g") ... have that same power in microcosm.
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That is why Wisdom is "Rejoicing in the -habitable- part of his earth; and ---my delights were with the sons of men---. " Wisdom rejoices to come live with us... rejoices to see us use and apply her ... rejoices to give us of the fruits of her knowledge, opens our understanding, and helps us to experience the beauty that is all around us!
Isn't it interesting? Yashuah says... "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: ----the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.-----" (John 6:63)
Our bodies do not IMMEDIATELY benefit from hearing the Word of God... from reading those black characters on the printed page.... it is when we seek to UNDERSTAND what those words mean... our Spirit begins to eat of that food... and builds up our mental muscles!
THEN... when we apply that wisdom ... " therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD." ---- our flesh WILL ultimately benefit...!
Wisdom is a Spiritual gift, and comes from God THE Spirit whom we must worship in Spirit & Truth. The skillful application of Wisdom is a spiritual and mental discipline.... and the practical rewards are awesome! How could it be otherwise??? ?
Our God is a practical God. He gets down and dirty, eats with sinners, goes out looking for His Lost sheep, and tells His Servants all that is is His Heart... because He no longer calls us servants, but FRIENDS. Would you want bad things to happen to your friend? Absolutely not.... its the same way with Him. He is literally pleading in the first 9 chapters of Proverbs, laying out the benefits, and telling us to listen to Him, so we can share in His Wisdom!
He is standing and knocking, willing to forgive, to make us wise, to fill us with His Spirit, that we in turn can bless others as they struggle with the cares and worries of this life. How can we deprive them of this life giving water when they are so thirsty? We do not intend to!! ?
We have done a series on the practical application of the Law (in our Series on Biblical Living 101, and 102 ... you can find those on our website, links are to be found on the very first pinned Post on this Page. We are very much looking forward to digging for gold in the Book of Proverbs!
Hallelujah!