6/10/19
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Proverbs 8 describes wisdom as God sees it. Here Wisdom calls out (v. 1) asking to be heard. She calls out here and there, in the places where important people gather - at the heights, the crossroads, and the gates (vv. 2-3). This is a really great thing. While our natural inclination is to look for some kind of secret wisdom, possibly buried deep inside ourselves or only accessible through special teaching or even mind-altering drugs, God says His wisdom is hanging around in the places we go, calling out to us. The Christian doesn’t look for anything secret. The Christian looks for God’s revelation in public.
In verses 22-31, God’s wisdom is not only public, but also eternal. The Christian looks at this passage, compares it to the prologue of John’s Gospel, and concludes that Jesus, God the Son, the living Word of God, is God’s wisdom. We notice especially Proverbs 8:30, where Wisdom is God’s companion, “like a master workman” (ESV).
What is the big point of this passage, though? It is not that Wisdom is public, or even that Wisdom’s identity is no less than God the Son, Jesus, but that in verse 31, that Wisdom delights in this world and the humans who people it (v. 31). God’s wisdom calls out to you and me. He wants us to hear from him. He delights in us and our good, as we benefit from him. It is to the glory of God for us to learn from him to trust him, and be conformed to his image. God’s wisdom is good for us.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Proverbs 8 describes wisdom as God sees it. Here Wisdom calls out (v. 1) asking to be heard. She calls out here and there, in the places where important people gather - at the heights, the crossroads, and the gates (vv. 2-3). This is a really great thing. While our natural inclination is to look for some kind of secret wisdom, possibly buried deep inside ourselves or only accessible through special teaching or even mind-altering drugs, God says His wisdom is hanging around in the places we go, calling out to us. The Christian doesn’t look for anything secret. The Christian looks for God’s revelation in public.
In verses 22-31, God’s wisdom is not only public, but also eternal. The Christian looks at this passage, compares it to the prologue of John’s Gospel, and concludes that Jesus, God the Son, the living Word of God, is God’s wisdom. We notice especially Proverbs 8:30, where Wisdom is God’s companion, “like a master workman” (ESV).
What is the big point of this passage, though? It is not that Wisdom is public, or even that Wisdom’s identity is no less than God the Son, Jesus, but that in verse 31, that Wisdom delights in this world and the humans who people it (v. 31). God’s wisdom calls out to you and me. He wants us to hear from him. He delights in us and our good, as we benefit from him. It is to the glory of God for us to learn from him to trust him, and be conformed to his image. God’s wisdom is good for us.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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