Today's devotional comes from Windows of Wisdom by Olford.
Proverbs 9:1-12
1 Wisdom has built her house;
she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call
from the highest places in the town,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
To him who lacks sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”
she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call
from the highest places in the town,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
To him who lacks sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”
7 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,
and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
if you scoff, you alone will bear it.
and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
if you scoff, you alone will bear it.
Wisdom ...the whole of Proverbs is about gaining wisdom and living in a way that pleases God.
I have to admit, I do have problems seeing wisdom and something that calls and beckons to folk. Making it like a person. It's hard imagery for me.
Though I know that being seen as a wise person beckons to me. I just don't see wisdom as doing the beckoning...more like me seeking after it. And most of the time thinking that I am failing in it.
So with that understanding, note that I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of wisdom preparing a place for folk to come and become wise. :)
as the author writes:
1 Wisdom has built her house;Regardless of the struggle the picture is placed in front of us, of wisdom wanting to be shared/learned. That the simple are called to come and learn.
she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call
from the highest places in the town,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
These words speak to me, they say learn to to be wise, learn a better way to live. Learn more about how to live for God.
6 Leave your simple ways, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”
reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;Though I have to admit to wondering about the last line.. of being wise for yourself. To me what's the point of being wise if you don't share that wisdom? But then again, one can't truly gain wisdom for others can they? If you are wise you are wise in yourself, not wise in others and your wisdom can be used for the benefit of others. (if that makes any sense at all). :)
teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
I often don't feel wise.
I often feel like I'm blundering about life.
I need wisdom. I need to fear the Lord. I need to truly live my life.
Is that not what the author says? "Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.” (ESV) the new international version says it this way "Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding." I want to truly live.
The more I know something, and the more I think on it, the wiser I will be and less blundering through life I will do. And the place to start with all that is with the fear of the Lord. I can only fear the Lord properly if I know who he is.
God keeps telling me... TRUST in me with ALL your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. See me in EVERYTHING and I will direct the way you should go. It's not an easy thing to be hearing all the time because all I see are my own thoughts and plans and how often I leave God out of them and I feel like an abject failure. I see how I try to teach my boy, but I think too often I try to do so under my own strength and abilities and I am seeing more and more how I need to spend more and more time in prayer just talking with God about everything I do, and think and setting aside more time to just be with him. (perhaps I am becoming more wise in this hmm?)
It's hard to balance it out you know.. living life and loving up on God and learning from him. God is helping me learn to be more heavenly minded.
I do have this fear though.....what if I become so heavenly minded that I am no earthly good? I so want to live a good practical life. Meeting the needs of others is where my heart lies. But I also need to meet the needs and demands of God in my life. God is the more important of the two and I need to trust him to make it all work. Trusting God is sometimes difficult.
Ah...brain wave... my son lately is worrying about his bedtime and I keep telling him to trust me to make sure he's in bed on time...and he's finding that difficult...hmm...and now I have more understanding into his heart. This a good thing. It gives me more empathy for how he is feeling which will help me to help him more. Cool! God is good.
What is God doing in your life lately?
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