New Life Christian Church

Scripture: proverbs 8

Observation:

This is a very interesting chapter. In this chapter wisdom is personified. This is another Proverb of Solomon and it is one that deals with only one thing: obtaining wisdom.  This chapter was really kind of weird for me. As I read through it I just felt like my observations were a little random. None the less here they are:

v.3 beside the gate leading into the city - this seems to imply that wisdom is available to anyone who would want it. In verse 4 wisdom "calls out" to all mankind. It is funny to think about the fact that wisdom is available to everyone. James says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God." I think that is a pretty important point to raise here. It is not just that wisdom is floating out there for anyone to catch and hoard. Wisdom comes from God. Wisdom is available to everyone because God is a generous God.

v. 7 "My mouth speaks what is true" have you ever noticed that people that tell the truth generally end up being more respected and loved in almost every arena of life. I feel like I have a tendency to want to cover up the truth if I have messed up- but wisdom tells me that owning my mistakes is the best path.

v. 13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil. This is a really interesting statement. Generally today when we think of fear we thing of being scared of something. But the actually meaning of this word here is respect or reverence. Simply being afraid of God isn't enough. It is realizing the reality of who God is. Understanding His awesome power and might. Seeing Him as God not as some object or abstract concept. Once you begin to see God for who He really is, when you see his power and Holiness, you will hate evil. Why? Because nothing compares to God. You could never stand in God's presence and want anything but more and more of Him.

v. 22-31 This is a really cool section of scripture. If you are not careful you might think that this text is talking about Jesus, however it is not. Here is how I know that: v. 22 says that the Lord brought wisdom forth as the first of His works. This means that wisdom is something that God created. Yet we know from the book of John that, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So we know that Jesus who is the Word was with God already in the beginning and that Jesus is God. I think that this section of scripture might be referring to the wisdom of God's plan of salvation, that God laid the foundation for redemption before anything else, that the Wisdom of God might be hidden from everyone until the proper time of exposing it. In 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul talks about Jesus being crucified as, "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles," To think that God would die for us in order to redeem us is crazy. It doesn't make sense that a perfect being would die for imperfect beings. It doesn't make sense that redemption would come through death and yet it did. I think this is the wisdom that being talked about here in this chapter. That death would bring life. If it were up to me I wouldn't have planned it that way and yet it is better than anything I could have planned.

Application:

I think that the thing that I walk away from this chapter with is just the reminder that God is God. That I can lean on Him. That His way is better than my way. That no matter what is going on in my life He is in control.

Prayer:

God, please help me to remember that you are in control and that I can depend on you for everything! You wisdom is far greater than my plans or dreams. Thank you for redeeming me! Amen