Wisdom (Part 1): Week 4, Day 3

Today is our day of APPLYING what we have learned about wisdom in Proverbs 8:22-36.

When you started reading these verses, if you did not have the correct context to what you were reading, it would be easy to misinterpret the pronoun "me" that is written in verse 22.  This is one of the reasons why context is so important to studying the Scripture, why I asked you to read the first 21 verses of the chapter before moving on, and why we mark certain words the way we do.  This "me" is wisdom personified.  Just in case you questioned if "me" was really wisdom, we looked at a reference in Job and another reference in Proverbs.  Proverbs 3:19 makes very clear that wisdom is being talked about here.

The creation account in the next few verses is just amazing to me.  I can't help but stop and praise the Lord when I read through this.  Wisdom played a critical roll in the creation account.  Wisdom was created by God (8:23) before the earth was created by God (8:27).  Wisdom then helped God create (8:30).  How powerful is that - the same God who created you and me created wisdom, and then used the creation of wisdom to go on and create the whole world.  This can be so mind-boggling if you let it.  If you truly stop to think this through, you can get caught up in it.  Sometimes, sisters, it is better to accept the Word of God for what it says, then to try and reason it out.  God said it, and that is all I need to know!

Wisdom is such an important part of our lives.  We are told in verse 32 that we will be blessed if we keep the ways of wisdom.  We know from reading Proverbs 9:10 that, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  We need to keep the fear of the Lord!  We never need to neglect God, and we never need to disrespect Him.  Doing so would be going against everything that we have learned about wisdom.

We listed three things about the person who listens to wisdom:

1. They are blessed
2. They find life
3. They obtain favor from the Lord

My sisters, if you choose to listen to wisdom, if you choose to fear the Lord, you will be blessed! You will find life (eternal life)! You will obtain favor from the Lord!  How amazing is this God that we serve?  The same God Who created wisdom, and then used that wisdom to create the world, is offering us that same wisdom!

But in stark contrast, the person who chooses to not listen to wisdom, who chooses to not fear the Lord, "injures himself".  It is harmful to us if we do not listen to what the Lord says.  In an eternal sense, those who do not seek the Lord will end up in Hell.  In a daily sense, if we do not do the Lord's will and walk in His ways, we will end up doing things that are not good, honorable, trustworthy, and everything else that was on our list last week.

We are given the choice - to listen to wisdom or to not listen to wisdom.  To fear the Lord or to not fear the Lord.  You have to make the choice for yourself, no one else can do it.  Oh sisters, I pray that you choose to listen to wisdom.  I pray that you choose to fear the Lord.  I hope that everything we have learned and studied so far about wisdom is causing you to choose wisdom.  Next week we will look at Proverbs 9 and continue this conversation.  Please come back and see what else the Lord has to say!

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1, Day 2

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 4, Day 2

Welcome back!  Today we are going to INTERPRET the things that we read yesterday in Proverbs 8:22-36.  Before we begin, read through this section of verses again.

In your notebooks, answer the following:

1. Read Job 28:26-28 and Proverbs 3:19.  These verses help confirm the pronoun "me" in verse 22.  Who is "me"?
2. Verses 22-31 go into an account of creation that takes my breath away.  How did wisdom play a roll in creation?
3. Whenever you see the word "therefore", you need to look back and see what it is there for.  In light of everything that we just read concerning creation and wisdom's roll in creation, what should we do to wisdom?
4. Relate "listening to wisdom" back to Proverbs 9:10.
5. Verse 33 gives us a specific command and a specific not-to-do.  Write these down.
6. Verses 34-36 contrast the person who listens to wisdom to the person who doesn't.  What three things will happen to the person who listens to wisdom?
7. The phrase "sins against me" in verse 36 can be translated "misses me".  What happens to the person who does not listen to, or who misses, wisdom?
8. People who hate wisdom love what?

Congratulations!  You have made it to the end of Proverbs 8.  In our last session, we wrote down questions that we had in our notebooks.  Have you received any answers to your questions? What questions do you still have?  Write these down and pray for wisdom!

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 4, Day 1

Welcome back to our study on wisdom.  Today, we are going to pick up where we left off in Proverbs 8.  This is a tough passage to read and understand, but we are going to work through it together.  Trust the method of inductive Bible study, pray, seek the Lord, and remember that it is okay to not know.  Today we are going to OBSERVE the text for what it says.

Before you begin the new section of Proverbs 8, re-read verses 1-21.  This will help you get your mind back into the correct context of the passage.  Remember that the majority of the pronouns are talking about wisdom.  Once you have read through verse 21, go ahead and read verses 22-36.

22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,

Before His works of old.
23 “From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
24 “When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25 “Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26 While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27 “When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
28 When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
29 When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.

32 “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
33 “Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.
34 “Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
35 “For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
36 “But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.”

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Now re-read Proverbs 8:22-36 and use the following markings:

• Mark wisdom (and all pronouns) with a blue cloud colored yellow
• Mark Lord with a purple triangle colored yellow (and all pronouns by coloring them yellow)
• Mark evil by coloring it brown
• Mark love with a red heart
• Mark hate with a black heart
• Mark all time phrases with a green clock (beginning, before, everlasting, earliest, when, while, then, daily, etc.)
• Mark therefore and for by circling them red
• Mark but by circling it blue

In your notebooks, write down a take-away from today's reading.  If you have some questions about what you read, write those down as well.  In our next study, we will INTERPRET the things that we have read today. Take care, sisters. Pray for wisdom!

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3