Skip to main content

Wisdom and Joy


        “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began …. Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, (Proverbs 8:22-23 & 30)
 
          The “I” in Proverbs 8 is wisdom. Throughout Scripture, when wisdom is personified, she is personified as a woman. This isn’t to suggest that wisdom is an attribute of women. Wisdom is not sexist. The first reason I’m making a point of this is because the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that in Proverbs 8, the “I” is Jesus and they use it as their proof text that Jesus is a created being.
          The second reason I’m focusing on this is because I don’t believe that it’s accidental that Wisdom is personified as a woman. There are others who have studied more who know better than I, but my goal is to give you food for thought. I might not be correct and if you can provide corrective information, it’s welcome. According to Scripture and scholars, God is wise. So how could wisdom be brought into existence? How is wisdom then one of His works?
          It could be that prior to the creation, when God was the sole Being, wisdom could not be demonstrated.  it could not be demonstrated. Wisdom could only be said to exist when God acted (so to speak) outside of Himself. It only existed (from the perspective of the observer) when He demonstrated it. It is only in that sense that Wisdom can be considered a separate thing from the wise one.
          This may be a key to why wisdom is personified as a woman. It is a type of God’s relationship with man, to Christ’s relation to the Church and man’s relationship to woman. Wisdom is an integral, necessary, productive, dependent (it does not exist independently), complementary helper.
          There is something else in this passage that relates to the subject of joy. Wisdom says that she was a craftsman at His side, filled with delight and rejoicing in His presence. The source of wisdom’s job was two-fold: being a master craftsman and being with God. If we are wise, our joy comes from joining God in His work and from being with Him. If we aren’t doing these things we should not expect joy. If we aren’t experiencing joy, then if we spend more time with Him, He will undoubtedly involve us in what He’s doing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more