November 9

Nov 9 - Today from Proverbs 9 we look at verse 1
"Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out her seven pillars."

This verse tells us that wisdom is firmly and finally established. The number seven is the number for completeness or perfection. This verse is telling us that wisdom lacks nothing. It never did, and it never will. The Teacher writes in Ecclesiastes 3:14, "I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it." Wisdom personified speaks in Proverbs 8:22 & 23, "The Lord brought me forth as the first of His works, before His deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began." Our verse today is simply one more effort of the Teacher to instill this great and immutable truth.
Anthropology is such a fascinating field. Should the Lord tarry, I wonder how generations several hundred years from now will view this age of postmodernism. Under the guise of Enlightenment, it seems that mankind is continually moved and carried by invisible waves of its influence. History seems to be the better vantage point for viewing these ebbs and flows. The current generation does not appear to be fully aware, but the severity of these ebbs and flows are related as to how well the culture is 'anchored'. If it is not anchored to some common absolute, the chaos becomes more severe. Today's Postmodernism places highest values on personal preference and tolerance. "You establish your belief system and I will establish mine, and we will respect each other's systems. This will bring harmony to our culture and to our world." (sic). In putting such philosophical musings into practice, all anchors are pulled up and the culture begins to drift and ebb and flow into a chaotic state. The only intolerance in such a culture is with those who refuse to pull up anchor. They are perceived to ‘hinder’ the evolution of human experience. James sensed this human condition when he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in James 1:5 & 6, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But, when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." Believe and not doubt what? To believe that wisdom is firmly established and that God's ways are immutable. To say, "My reality is truth and your reality is truth, and therefore we must respect each other's realities," is intentional double-mindedness that perpetuates moral chaos.
God created a good world out of chaos. Sin entered into that good creation and initiated a direction back into chaos. God intervened with His Moral Law to control the move back into chaos until the promised Messiah came. Jesus partially restored good into the creation in time by receiving the penalty for the cause of this chaos in His own physical being. Ephesians 1:9 & 10 says that He will fully restore all things to good at the end of time. Chaos will ultimately and finally be thrown into the pit. What will we, who have received the goodness of His restoration, be fully restored to? We will be fully restored to God's original intentions and purposes for mankind - wisdom from above (James 3:17).
Who will stand firm in the midst of moral chaos today? Those who walk in wisdom and are anchored in Christ will stand firm in His strength. Wisdom is understanding life the way God meant it to be. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is not evolving out of human experience. It has been established from the foundation of the world. Apart from the fear of the Lord, and from man seeking to walk in His wisdom, the only thing evolving out of human experience is more chaos.