LADY WISDOM CALLS – PROVERBS 8
Bible Background: It’s very interesting that Wisdom speaks loud and clear with the voice of a woman, in Proverbs 8. We refer to her as “Lady Wisdom” or “Woman Wisdom”. She is the opposite of “Dame Folly” (who appears in chapter 9), who would lead people astray. Lady Wisdom speaks with the authority supplied by God at the beginning of creation. Many scholars see this personification of wisdom as basically akin to the Logos (Word) in John 1, which was “in the beginning with God.”

Digging Deeper: 1. In this scene, Wisdom is not hidden or hard to find. Wisdom is out in all the busy streets, calling and inviting. When has God’s wisdom been easy for you to hear and see? When has God’s Wisdom seemed either more elusive or less appealing in your life?

2. “Wisdom is better than jewels” v.11. Wisdom speaks, and “money talks” in our culture. Think of some situation where money/wealth get in the way of wisdom…Have you found yourself more devoted to making money than nurturing your marriage or friendships or health? In our country, would you say that money (and our obsession with $$) is a ‘necessary’ evil? Or “the root of all evil?”

3. v.22-30 is a wonderful poem of how Wisdom is an attribute and partner of God. This suggests that Wisdom knows all about human beings and systems. Surprisingly, Wisdom totally delights not only in God, but in the human race! How refreshing is it to hear in scripture that the human race is not all as depraved as it often seems to be in the Bible and in real life? How does our faith function in that tension of being “lost and condemned sinners” and yet created “in the image of God” with wonderful potential?

4. When God calls us into relationship, God calls us away from “pride, arrogance, evil and perverted speech” (v.13). Wisdom’s ways, God’s ways are “prudence, knowledge, discretion, righteousness, and justice” (v.12,20). Cultural wisdom is often politically ‘correct’, or the defense of an unproven status quo (such as “a rising tide lifts all boats.”) How can we be open to new, honest, and humble wisdom in our personal lives? In the life of the church? In the life of the nation and world?

Prayer: Blessed Lord, you speak to us through the Holy Scriptures. Grant that we may hear, read, respect, learn, and make them our own in such a way that the enduring benefit and comfort of the Word will help us grasp and hold the blessed hope of everlasting life, given us through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.