God is a master writer. He can pack a lot of meaning and power into just a few words. Sometimes, to convey His message, He speaks figuratively in order to help us earthly creatures understand His heavenly truths. The parables are like that. They use illustrations to explain heavenly concepts – and they also separate the true seekers from those who only wanted to mock the truth.
Something similar is going on in Proverbs 8. God is using a literary device called personification to help us to understand wisdom. (“Personification” is when you take a thing or an abstract idea and give it a personality.)
Two things come out very clearly in this passage: God loves wisdom and He has high regard for those who love it, too.
First off, wisdom makes herself plainly obvious to anyone who is willing to look for her.
Proverbs 8:1-4
(1) Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
(2) She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
(3) She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
(4) Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
She’s blunt in her invitation, but completely honest. There is no guile (deceit, trickery) in godly wisdom.
Pro 8:5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
Her invitation is so blunt in order to separate the proud from the humble. No one can even begin to accept God’s wisdom, let alone understand it, whose heart is too proud to see him or herself the way God does.
When Christ was on earth, He was equally clear:
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Wisdom and the Gospel target the same audience: Those who recognize they have a need. What does that mean for those of us who are believers? We need to accept God’s truth the same way we accepted God’s salvation: in humility and faith.
Even Christians can become too proud to perceive wisdom. We can know a bunch of facts about the Bible and quote Scripture like no other, but that makes us no better than the Pharisees. Christians who are growing and changing recognize that they are always in need of God.
We’ll stop here for today, but here’s my question: Are you recognizing your daily need for God’s wisdom, or have you been too proud or too busy to stop and listen?
Grace in Waves 