Proverbs 8 and 9: Which woman will you court?

 Chapters 8 and 9...it's worth hammering because Proverbs thinks it is..

if all wisdom is to us is wise sayings and life lessons, then we will miss Wisdom.  Wisdom is a person, a person who was with God in the beginning and whose "delight was the children of humankind."  A person who rejoiced before God as They created all that is.  And most of all when They created us.  A person who loves those who love Them and hates all that keeps us from Him.  A person who will give us riches greater than gold and silver and jewels and families and homes and food and wise sayings and life lessons and examples and seven simple steps for a happy, healthy life, for if we come to them we "find life."  The Resurrection and the Life.

"The start of wisdom is fear of YHWH and knowledge of the Holy One, insight."  For if we know Christ, we know the Father (John 14).  

Proverbs with these two women is trying over and over to tell us that "knowing" is experiential, it is holistic, it is comprehensive, it is covenantal.  We are reminded that "to know" in the Bible means so much more than intellectual learning; it means to be one with.  To know the One who made all things, the Alpha and the Omega, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the source of all wisdom and knowledge, to be redeemed to the Father who made us to be His children, forever with Him in Paradise...  to not know Him is to pursue a harlot, a deceiver, adultery (for our true lover and husband is Christ), and thus idolatry.  There are only two options.  If you are not pursuing the one, you are courting the other.

That's bound to make us live a little wiser.

Proverbs chapter six... what kind of tree is it?

i originally wrote this post on January seventh....

 Well, these words from yesterday's chapter six seem somewhat poignant after yesterday's events...

12 A worthless man, an evil man,

    goes around with deceitful speech.

13 Winking in his eye, shuffling in his foot,

    pointing in his fingers,

14 perversion in his heart, he devises evil;

    at all times he will send out discord.

15 Upon such a man, suddenly shall his calamity come;

    in a moment he will be damaged and there is no healing.

16 There are six things Yahweh hates,

    and seven things are abominations of his soul:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

    and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a devising heart, plans of deception,

    feet that hurry to run to evil,

19 a false witness who breathes lies

    and sends out discord between brothers.

By the fruit, the outcome, desired or otherwise, a tree may be known.  Jesus and those who follow him, his firstfruits, shall be known by their unity.  Not uniformity, mind you, but like male and female, Jew and Gentile, slave and free, they shall be made of many different parts into a single Body, learning to work together by working out their single faith in love.  The love that they have been shown.  Not that Christians will never have disagreements, but that those disagreements never divide the Body of Christ.  But those disagreements are arenas to practice humility and repentance and honoring the other more than one's self.

When the results of our actions lead to discord among brothers, we know we have been putting our faith in the wrong tree, listening to the words of the wrong woman of Proverbs.  The one outlined again for us in chapter 7.

Proverbs 3 and 4

 In three and four, what i noticed was it preparing us for hard work.  Many if not all of us have probably had an experience where we really needed a Word from God and we prayed and begged him to speak to us and then opened up our Bibles at random and it seemed to fall open to exactly the kind of verse we needed in that moment.  And that's God meeting us in our weakness and immaturity with His grace and understanding.  But He doesn't plan for that to be the usual pattern of our interaction with Him.  He's not a cosmic slot machine, to treat Him as such is unloving and demeaning.  He is our Father.  God delights in our regularly seeking Him through prayer and teaching and community and most importantly, in His Word.  In our pursuit of Wisdom, which is the revelation of God, which is Christ.  It's work, good work, rewarding work, lifelong work.  Work He does with us and in us.

Proverbs 2

 Continuing my foray through Proverbs...

What i was given (because it bears repeating that if i ever say anything wise or useful, it is from the Spirit) in the second chapter is a reminder that just as wisdom and righteousness are a person, so too is evil.  The path we choose is not an empty road with hypothetical destinations, but a willful act to follow someone, to listen to someone, to believe someone, to love someone...to either life or death.

Proverbs 1

 So my uncle invited a bunch of our family to read through Proverbs, one chapter per day, this month to begin this year seeking wisdom and then share our thoughts on our clan facebook page (i have a LARGE family).  And since it got me writing again, for the first time in far too long, i thought i'd share my reflections over here in the Coop.  As always, if it blesses you, glorify God, if it does not, feel free to pitch it.

Prov 1:

What struck me this time is the completeness of this chapter. It's not like some of the book, a list, but a tale. It is the story of the Bible in wisdom form. Creation, Fall, Redemption, Re-Creation. The beginning is God and fear of God. Foolishness is the denial of Him. The terms are laid out. The middle is Foolishness played out. What it looks like to God. What its goal is. What its end will be. But then comes Wisdom personified. Even though we scorn her and refused her call, she poured her spirit out on us and "stretched out her hand"; she has done all. She has done more than she needed. She pursued us, even pleaded with us. But eventually the storm will come, calamity will come, death comes and when it does, it will be too late, the door of the Ark is shut, the gate of the Wedding Feast is closed and barred and those who refused the Fear of Yahweh only then see their mistake and those who "listened", heard and took to heart, will "rest securely."

It lays down the gridwork from which to view the rest of the book.