Well, here we are— settling into 2025 and adjusting to whatever changes or new possessions we have. Recently, I purchased two new dining room chairs. They are better than my old ones, but they have caused me to change my routine. Their height at the table is perfect, but that same height makes it more challenging (i.e., more painful) to bend down to put GG’s harness on him. (Sitting down is easier on my bad back.) So I’ve moved all his things to the bookcase at the other end of the room and use one of my lower living room chairs to get him ready to go out. Nuances of this have popped up, not the least being GG’s confusion about what to do after I have readied him since his muscle memory remained in his old routine. I’m grateful for the wisdom of using a lower chair while putting on my shoes and tying the laces. Having God’s wisdom leads to better routines, more straightforward methods of accomplishing big or little tasks, and how to live more effectively and successfully. When I take care of remembering my back pain, I am friendlier with my neighbors, more energetic when walking GG, and generally a more pleasant, compassionate, peaceful person. This simple wisdom works like my deep understanding of living a biblical lifestyle. “God created the world with an order to work in a certain way, and we must live according to that to be truly wise; but in our brokenness we don’t see it…Proverbs is all about becoming wise in everyday life through a relationship with Jesus—through the gospel. It’s about the life of the kingdom that God always meant for humankind to live. When our vertical relationship with God is right through Jesus, we can be right with others and the world around us.” (1) “Proverbs’ goal is to describe and instill wisdom in God’s people, that is founded in the ‘fear of the Lord’ in the covenant life’s practical details of everyday situations and relationships.” (2) As we explore Proverbs’ wisdom together, I pray we will draw closer to Christ, see ourselves more realistically, and demonstrate the fruit of God’s wisdom in our circumstances and relationships.
God Wove Wisdom in the Created Order
“The origin, existence, and purpose of true wisdom are properly framed in relationship with the covenant Lord, who is also the Maker of heaven and earth. As a result, the realm of wisdom encompasses every aspect of life in every corner of creation.” (3) “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil: pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly. I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there…then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man…Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 8:12-31, 33-35) “Proverbs 8 reveals a facet of God’s work in creation that we don’t see as clearly in the Genesis 1–3 account, and that is the fact that God wove wisdom into the created order so that it would function as a coherent system. Therefore, those who submit to God and his ways—the wise—are able to participate in the rationality at the heart of created things, which is why Lady Wisdom says that her words ‘are all straight to him who understands, [and right to those who find knowledge’ (8:9).” (4)
Christ’s is the Wisdom of God
Paul expertly described how the world views the wisdom of the gospel in his letter to the Corinthians. “God’s wisdom and power are not abstract forces but personal qualities that manifest themselves fully in the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation, by its very nature, does not depend on human values or achievement…most of the believers in Corinth lacked the wisdom prized by Greeks, the power admired by Romans (and Jews), and the pedigree admired by Greeks, Romans, and Jews. They had also been lacking in ethical purity until God’s grace washed and sanctified them in Christ (6:9-11).” (5) “It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world…so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God.” (1 Corinthians 1:21-25, 27-30)
Not the World’s Wisdom
“Wisdom reminds us that the search for an ethic based solely on experience is futile. Education and experience must build on the basis of the faithfulness and hope provided by God’s covenant promises. Ethical systems without the absolute standard of right, goodness, and truth revealed in the Scriptures cannot survive. (6) The First Corinthians “passage is filled with intense irony. Those who are wise according to the standards of the world think the gospel is foolish, since it identifies one who has suffered shameful crucifixion as the unique and only remedy to the plight of humanity. But even the most ‘foolish’ thing about God is wiser than human wisdom…The arrogance of human wisdom blinds unbelievers to the truth.” (7) Scripture provides God’s wisdom for living in Christ as citizens of the kingdom of God, with knowledge, discretion, discernment, love, righteousness, and justice. Living and believing on the side of the cross increases our understanding of Proverbs’ wisdom. For example, Proverbs 26 reads, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes…Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (verses 4-5, 12). “How do you know when to do which?…If there is no chance of correction and you will end up giving the foolish person only a greater opportunity to express his folly, then just avoid the engagement. But if there is a chance he may see where he is wrong, then plunge in, using all the insights for speaking and listening we have been discussing. But there is an even larger point to be made. Most of us temperamentally will default to always avoiding engagement, and others will be attracted to debating. Sometimes our instincts will be right, but often they are not. So be wise enough to think things out and sometimes go against your instincts…When was the last time you went against your temperament and it turned out to be a wise thing to do? [So we pray]…Lord, I thank you that, because you have led me to accept the authority of your Word, I have had many occasions to act against my temperament.” (8) As we explore Proverbs’ wisdom, we can draw closer to Christ, see ourselves more realistically, and demonstrate the fruit of God’s wisdom in our circumstances and relationships. We can live out Romans 12:2 by depending upon God’s wisdom instead of our instincts and natural tendencies. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Related Scripture: Deuteronomy 7:6-8; 9:4-6; 1 Kings 4:29-34; Psalm 19:7; Proverbs 2:5-11; 3:13-18; 12:15; Isaiah 11:1-5: Matthew 11:25-26; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 2:2b-3; James 1:5-6,27.
Notes:
- Akin, Daniel L. and Jonathan, Exalting Jesus in Proverbs, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary, Section 1: Proverbs 1:1-7, Holman, 2017.
- English Standard Version Study Bible Notes, Introduction to Proverbs, (digital edition), Crossway, 2008
- ESV, Proverb s 8, Ibid.
- Brownback, Lydia, Proverbs: Knowing the Bible—A 12-Week Study, Week 4, Crossway, 2014.
- The Reformation Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 1:21-25, 27-31, Reformation Trust Publishing (Ligonier Ministries), Sanford, Fl., 2015.
- Reformation Study Bible Notes, Proverbs 8:13-35 “Wisdom’s effectiveness,” Ibid.
- Reformation Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 1:21-25, 27-31, Ibid
- Keller, Timothy and Kathy, God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life, August 22, Viking, 2017
January 23, 2025
Divine Wisdom for Daily Living by Joanne Colvin 