Wisdom's Call: 30 Days in the House of LifeVoorbeeld

LADY WISDOM SPEAKS

Proverbs 8 is a gift to all women who belong to the people of God. Because it is a gift to women of God, it is a gift to all the people of God, for in God’s life-giving economy, what is good for one is good for all.

God presents Wisdom, and her opposing force Folly, in the feminine. The two women are the star players in this analogy of the grand choice of life.

In fact, God paints for us a picture of two women, living in two houses, serving two meals, with two communities, and based on two separate lives. Casting the two women feels like a literary absolution of the first woman’s disobedience in the garden, where her mind, heart, body, and soul stood at the crossroads of life and death.

In painting the picture, He asks us to stand before the final word picture and bids us to ask questions: Which of these two houses is the dwelling that will lead to the shalom intended in that first garden shelter? Which one is the home that resulted in the first tempting bite that threw the world off-kilter?

As the Bible speaks of Lady Wisdom, our ears open to recognize the distinctive voice of personal Wisdom that’s found as an abundant fountain in the second person of the Godhead. We hear that voice as the very voice of God cascading through His Word and works:

Listen, for I speak of noble things, and what my lips say is right. For my mouth tells the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips. All the words from my mouth are righteous; none of them are deceptive or perverse. All of them are clear to the perceptive, and right to those who discover knowledge. Accept my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and nothing desirable can equal it. (Prov. 8:6–11)

In this we find the echoes of Paul, and what we should all listen for and heed from our Shepherd’s voice: “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things” (Phil. 4:8). The things that are the opposite of a righteous, noble nature and of truth are named—deceitfulness, wickedness, perversion of the created order—these do not belong in Wisdom’s house and therefore we can neither dwell on them nor dwell with them. Nothing impure comes from the lips of the Shepherd, and nothing against His character will enter Wisdom’s house. Not only will His distinctive voice be clear to those who seek Him, so will their understanding of His precepts.

Debates will continue throughout human history about the ownership and value of the world’s finest and largest jewels worn in the crowns of earthly kings and queens. Yet even the commodities of the ages that have withstood the tests of war, tech, and time cannot eclipse the value of knowing this voice.

The world lusts after silver, gold, and precious diamonds and rubies, but they all pale in comparison to knowing and hungering after Wisdom’s voice.