Tawa Baptist

Lady Wisdom

Scripture: Proverbs 8:1-21

Video Link: https://youtu.be/FUjMQQUKeHU

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Wisdom is near
  • Wisdom is righteous
  • Wisdom is valuable
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

‘The sun smiled down on us’

‘The story jumped off the page’

‘The light danced on the surface of the water’

‘The cake called my name’

‘Time marches on’.

These are all examples of personification.

Personification is when writers attribute human characteristics to something non-human. Smiling is a human characteristic. The sun doesn’t really smile. But we know that a smiling sun is a metaphor, a poetic way of saying, it was a warm sunny day but not too hot (like last Thursday).

Likewise, cake can’t literally speak but we know that when someone says, ‘the cake called my name’, what they really mean is the cake looked very appetizing and they couldn’t resist eating it.  

Today we continue our series in the Old Testament book of Proverbs. Proverbs offers practical wisdom for living. It gives handy life hacks for people starting out in the world.

Last week we heard about not taking responsibility for what is not yours so you can take responsibility for what is yours. This week our focus is Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs 8 is a poem which personifies wisdom as a woman. We might call her Lady Wisdom.

The plan is to unpack the first 21 verses of Proverbs 8 today and look at the rest in a couple of weeks’ time. From verse 1 we read…

Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? 2 At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; 3 beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud:

4 “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all humankind. 5 You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it. 6 Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. 7 My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. 8 All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. 9 To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge. 10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, 11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. 13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech. 14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power. 15 By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just; 16 by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth. 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. 18 With me are riches and honour, enduring wealth and prosperity. 19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. 20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, 21 bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In these verses the writer of Proverbs personifies wisdom as a woman. Lady Wisdom is near, Lady Wisdom is righteous and Lady Wisdom is valuable.

Let me retell for you an old Jewish folk story called The Treasure… 

Wisdom is near:

Once there was a man named Isaac who lived in a small fishing village on the edge of the kingdom. Isaac was poor. One night Isaac had a dream and in his dream a voice told him to go to the capital city and under the bridge to the palace he would find hidden treasure.

When Isaac woke in the morning he dismissed the dream, thinking it strange. The next night though he had the dream again. A prudent man by nature, Isaac put the dream out of his mind and carried on with his day.

But when Isaac had the same dream a third time, he decided make the journey to the capital city to see if there was in fact any treasure under the bridge to the palace.

Isaac set out on foot, relying on the kindness of strangers when he could, until finally, after many days, he arrived in the capital city.

As he approached the palace, Isaac noticed there actually was a bridge as he had seen in his dream. But on drawing closer he met a guard.

‘What do you want?’, the guard asked in a surly manner. The man did not bother to ask Isaac’s name or where he came from. So Isaac told the guard how a voice had told him in a dream to go to the capital city where he would find treasure under the bridge to the palace. 

The guard laughed saying, ‘I too had a dream in which a voice told me to go to a small fishing village on the edge of the kingdom, where I would find treasure in the house of a man named Isaac, under his stove. Can you imagine if I had followed my dream?’

Isaac exercised his discretion, thanked the guard and made his way home, relying on the kindness of strangers when he could. After many days he arrived back in the small fishing village.

He lifted the tiles under his stove and found a box full of gold. The treasure he had been looking for had been there all along.

The gold in this story represents wisdom. Wisdom is the real treasure and wisdom is near.

In the opening verses of Proverbs 8 we read that Lady Wisdom is near; close at hand. The highest point along the way (in verse 2) is a place that cannot be missed. Where the paths meet is an intersection or a crossroads. A place of decision making and choosing what way you will take.

And the gate leading into the city (verse 3) is both the entrance of the city and also a place in ancient society where disputes were settled, like a court of law.

All of this is a poetic way of saying that wisdom is not hard to find. You can observe Lady Wisdom in ordinary everyday life. We learn wisdom through our own experience and by observing the people around us. We learn wisdom in community with others.

Lady Wisdom is not some mystical guru sitting on a mountain top in a distant land. She is not hard to reach. No one stands between you and wisdom. Lady Wisdom is right there in front of you, calling out from the street and market place, in broad daylight.

We notice (in verses 1 and 4) that Lady Wisdom raises her voice. It’s not that wisdom has to shout. More the sense that wisdom communicates with a distinctive quality and with substance. 

There are many voices competing for our attention but wisdom has the ring of truth to it. Wisdom makes sense even in the busy-ness and confusion of life. The key is to slow down and listen for wisdom; to pay attention and discern her voice.

We notice too that wisdom is accessible to all humankind. Wisdom isn’t just for old people or rich people or smart people. Wisdom is for the simple, that is for those who are a bit naïve.

Wisdom is also for the foolish. In other words, if you have made some unwise choices in the past then you need not feel condemned to a lifetime of poor choices. If you open your mind and listen to wisdom, you can learn from your mistakes and become wise.

Given that wisdom is available to the simple and the foolish, it naturally follows that wisdom is available to everyone. Wisdom is near and wisdom is righteous.

Wisdom is righteous:

The term ‘righteousness’ essentially means right relationship. To be righteous is to live in right relationship with God and our neighbour. To say it another way, righteousness is relational.

Righteousness does not have to do with the religious rituals we might perform. It’s not about how many times you pray each day or how much money you donate to charitable organisations. Fasting does not make you righteous and neither does living in a cave away from society.

Righteousness has little if anything to do with ascetic practices. Righteousness is all about the way you relate with the people around you and it’s about the way you get things done.

A right relationship is characterized by things like honesty, trust, mutual respect, fairness, justice and wellbeing. And so Lady Wisdom says of herself in verses 6-9…      

I have trustworthy things to say… I speak what is right… All my words are just and upright. (Wisdom’s words are fair and genuine; the real deal.)

More than just saying the right thing though, Lady Wisdom also does the right thing. In verse 20 she says: I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice. Lady Wisdom models what right relationship looks like by her example.

Here’s another way to look at righteousness. Aldous Huxley, the author of the book Brave New World, once said this: ‘But the nature of the universe is such that the ends never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.’

The end is the goal or the desired outcome. While the means is the way you go about achieving the goal.

There is a worldly kind of wisdom, a cunning or shrewdness if you like, that is willing and able to sacrifice truth and trust, justice and uprightness in order to achieve a desired outcome.

For example, a medical student might cheat on their exam in order to pass. They may justify the means (cheating) by saying the end (passing) will enable them to help people in need. The problem is, they will probably end up doing more harm than good if they don’t know their stuff all that well. 

That is not the character of Lady Wisdom. True wisdom says, the end does not justify the means. Lady wisdom detests wickedness and crooked speech. She knows the means (how you achieve your goal) generally determines the end. You reap what you sow. 

And this is where the fear of the Lord comes in. In verse 13, Lady Wisdom says:   

To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech.

In one sense, to fear the Lord means being conscious that God sees all that we do and will one day hold us accountable. That being said, the fear of the Lord is not the same as the fear of punishment. If our relationship with God is based on the fear of punishment, then it is not a right relationship. It’s an abusive relationship and we will end up resenting God, rather than loving him.

No. Those who fear the Lord understand that God trusts them and they don’t want to abuse his trust nor take it for granted. To fear the Lord is to respect and reverence our relationship with God because God’s trust is precious to us.

Those who think the end justifies the means do not fear the Lord. They are arrogant. They think they can get away with it.

Perverse speech isn’t about swearing or using bad language so much as lying, not telling the truth, deceiving people with words. Falseness goes hand in hand with evil behaviour.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day thought the end justified the means. Their speech was perverse. They reasoned it was okay to falsely accuse Jesus and have him killed on the basis that it would preserve their power and position. But Jesus wasn’t interested in their power or position.

We are talking about Lady Wisdom. Wisdom is near and wisdom is righteous. Wisdom shows us how to live in right relationship with God and our neighbour. Righteousness, as a means and an end, is what gives wisdom her value.  

Wisdom is valuable:

From verse 10 we read…

10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, 11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Verses 18 & 19 pick up the same theme, where Lady Wisdom says…

18 With me are riches and honour, enduring wealth and prosperity. 19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.

The point here is that wisdom is more valuable than silver and gold.

Verse 18 is referring to relational wealth and prosperity, more than financial prosperity. The Hebrew word translated into English as prosperity is literally righteousness.

These verses are saying that righteous wisdom will make you secure in your relationships; wisdom will enhance the quality of your relationships.

Of course, when you live in right relationship with others, when you treat others with respect and fairness, when you are honest and trustworthy in your dealings with others, over time, that tends to result in financial security as well. You reap what you sow. The means determines the end.   

In verse 12, Lady Wisdom expounds her value further saying…

12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.

Prudence is the ability to govern oneself by use of reason. Prudence is the capacity to exercise self-control or self-discipline. Those with prudence demonstrate skill and good judgement in the use of resources.

If you win Lotto but lack prudence you will probably lose your winnings before long. Financial wealth is wasted on those without prudence.

Lady wisdom possesses knowledge with discretion. That’s an interesting combination.

Knowledge concerns facts, accurate information and skill. Knowledge is a necessary component of wisdom.

Discretion is the quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offence. A discrete person knows when to keep their mouth shut.

Just because you know something, it doesn’t automatically follow that you should share it. Knowledge without discretion can destroy relationships. Wisdom keeps knowledge and discretion together.

In the story I told earlier, Isaac listened to the guard and gained knowledge of where to find the treasure. But Isaac also had the discretion to not tell the guard his name or where he came from.

From verse 14, Lady Wisdom continues speaking of her value…

14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power. 15 By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just;

Insight is the ability to see into a situation. Those with insight see beneath the surface to understand what’s really going on, what’s really driving someone’s behaviour. The wisdom of insight enables kings and rulers to make good decisions and exercise power in a righteous way so that all of society benefits.

King Solomon showed insight and good judgement when two women came to him with one baby, both claiming the baby to be their own. When Solomon ordered the child to be cut in two, the first woman was ambivalent while the second woman begged the king to preserve the child’s life and give him whole to the first woman. Solomon’s wise insight revealed who the true mother was. The woman who begged Solomon to save the child’s life.

Conclusion:

In verse 17, Lady Wisdom says…

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Wisdom wants to have a right relationship with us, so we may have a right relationship with God and those around us.

We are reminded of the words of Jesus, who more than any other human being, embodies the wisdom of God. In Matthew 7, Jesus says…  

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

The treasure of wisdom is closer than you think. Grace and peace to you on the journey.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Where can we find wisdom? How might we open our mind to learn wisdom? Can you think of a time when you learned wisdom from your mistakes? What happened?
  • What is righteousness? How might we know when our relationships are righteous? 
  • Discuss / reflect on the quote by Aldous Huxley: ‘But the nature of the universe is such that the ends never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.’ How does this fit with the righteous wisdom of Proverbs 8? 
  • What does it mean to fear the Lord (in the context of Proverbs 8)? How is fear of the Lord different from fear of punishment?
  • Why is wisdom more valuable than gold or silver? Why is it important to keep knowledge and discretion together?
  • What connections can you see between Proverbs 8:1-21 and the teaching of Jesus?