July 9

Jul 9 - Today from Proverbs 9 we look at verses 1 & 2
"Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table."

Chapter nine is most effective when taken as a whole. It sets forth a contrast between wisdom and folly by personifying them as women. The chapter begins with Wisdom - of which we are contemplating a truth about her today in the first two verses.
Seven is the number of perfection, or completeness. The seven pillars of Wisdom's house represents the fact that Wisdom lacks nothing. With the exception of the fear of the Lord, one needn't acquire anything else in order to step up to gaining wisdom. The biggest fool in the world can begin today - this very minute - to acquire wisdom. One needn't take special training, one needn't have special skills, one needn't hire a tutor. Wisdom is self-contained.
We also note that one needs not to wait on Wisdom. In the analogy, she has everything prepared and ready to serve. Her bounty is ready to be offered to any who heed her invitation to come and partake. No one will have the excuse, "I wanted to gain from Wisdom, but she was not ready for me." Everything wisdom has to offer is prepared and waiting for those who will partake. Reading further into the chapter, we see in verse four that this is not an exclusive club. Wisdom's offer is for any and all - even the most simple. This reveals to us that intelligence (I.Q.) and wisdom are not universally bound. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (v.10). I rather like to define wisdom as understanding of life the way God meant it to be. There are many intelligent people in this world who have very little wisdom. There are very wise people in this world who do not rate well on the I.Q. scale. If I had to make a choice, I would choose wisdom. The eternal benefits of wisdom far outweigh even the most superior intelligence.
The Apostle Paul took on the role of Wisdom as he proclaimed the gospel to the Gentile nations. He rarely appealed to the intellect, because intelligence is not the beginning of wisdom. Paul desired that the Gentiles first feared (awe, respect, revere and honor) God. In 1 Cor. 2 Paul writes, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. . . My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." (vs. 1,2,4).
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not vice-versa. Unless the subject acknowledges the God who created life, one can never understand life the way it was meant to be lived. Once one does acknowledge God, then one must accept Wisdom's invitation in order to benefit from her bounty. Again Paul writes in the same chapter, "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age (world system) . . . No, we speak of God's secret wisdom . . . (which) God has revealed to us by His Spirit." (vs. 6,7,10). Once one has acknowledged the true God, the bounty of wisdom's table is prepared and readily available. It is understood through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Sprit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (v.14).
Thus we conclude today's meditation with this lesson: We will never understand life the way it was meant to be lived unless and until we acknowledge God as the sovereign author of life. Once we have arrived at this place, we are to pursue our understanding of His ways (the invitation of Wisdom). As we embrace His ways, we mature, and the Spirit reveals more to us. We make the choice either to remain spiritual infants by grieving and quenching the Spirit, or to grow in wisdom by applying the things the Spirit reveals.
Pursue your understanding of God's ways. Seek to follow the leading of the Spirit. Be doers of the Word.