Proverbs 4
H,
There
is a lot of material that tells us what wisdom is not. There is very little
that cuts to the bone and tells us what it is. Or, more accurately, who wisdom
is. The book of proverbs does a good job of making it a person and not just a
set of instructions. It is almost like the set of instructions are adjectives
for the noun. It is a lot of material to go through. We obviously cannot have
our eyes constantly set on not being haughty, on being humble while looking for
the virtuous woman and avoiding strong drink because it is a mocker. I do not
think that these clear and practical things are said to be carried around in
pocket notes and assessed at the end of every day.
We are
also told to get an understanding of the whole picture. It is not bits and
parts the same way the bible is not bits and parts. It has a whole thing to
say. It has to be read as a whole message or we will get bogged down in details
that do not matter at the expense of the finer points that actually do or divided by doctrine while
arguing over something none of us truly understand in full (thank Elyon, that
has not occurred yet!)
So,
how do we get this understanding? We look at a life of complete wisdom, we look
again and then forever at Christ. Here is wisdom speaking and walking and
living in real time for a stretch of time. We see the things that matter by the
things he said. We know the heart of God by the way He spoke of the Father and
we are introduced to the narrow path to forever by His recruitment of us into
the powerful disciplines that take us from acquaintance to Son-ship and then to
friendship. This is a powerful thing but it starts slowly and with fits and
starts. Our insides are revealed to be ignoble and our outsides are exposed as
hypocritical. Wisdom starts with an understanding of our dark state and a
recognition of the wonderful morning light that has broken across the face of
all time and all being. Wisdom starts with when we take following that light as
our life’s goal.
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