Wisdom cries in the streets

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. Proverbs 1:20-23 ESV

            Wisdom is readily available. To make this perfectly clear the writer personifies wisdom as a woman who is standing in the way. You would have to try to avoid her. Moreover, she is calling out to the passersby. To those who heed her call she will make them wise and able to recognize wisdom. This is like the promise of James 1:5, which instructs those of us who lack wisdom to pray for it, and promises that prayer will be answered with the granting of wisdom.

            The reason for this is found in Proverbs 1:7, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord to be truly wise is to know God in reverence, and God greatly desires to be known. He wants us to have true wisdom, He wants us to know Him and His will even more than we want to know Him and His will. This is seen clearly in that God has sent wisdom out into the streets to call to men and women; He made the promise recorded by James. In Proverbs 1:8-9 we see that God designed humanity to born into a structure of instruction. He sent His Son to show us true wisdom and to extend grace that we might esteem and walk in it.

            Now there is a certain line of thinking which says that men cannot attain real wisdom as the finite cannot grasp the infinite. The best mankind can hope is to know that there is an infinite. Their reasoning is sound, but incomplete. They make one fatal assumption, and in doing so fail to adhere to their reasoning, which is that the infinite would not or could not reveal itself to the finite: if the latter were true than it is not really infinite, and if the former than the argument has defeated itself. More importantly, the Bible in its mere existence contradicts this idea, and the passage above contradicts explicitly, the life and work of Jesus Christ utterly destroys it: though these things must be proven to those who make the argument above.

            We cannot know it all, or hold all the answers; but we can have the essential knowledge sufficient to direct our steps along the best path and to avoid the pitfalls of human folly. We can know by the grace of God what we really need to know, and the implication of this verse is that any one of us can possess this essential knowledge and ability if only we seek it earnestly and honestly. If someone lacks wisdom it is in some part their fault for not seeking it, the truth is those who say the infinite cannot be known do not want to know the infinite.

Prayer

Lord, You have made all things, You have established all the ways of creation, and every law of the cosmos all wisdom is from You. To be wise is to know You as you are; this You have revealed in Your Son Jesus who being infinite took on finitude so we might see His glory and be reconciled to You. Lord, such things are foolishness to the world which prefers to walk in its own blindness, and to keep its own counsel. These fool persist in folly though the call of wisdom reaches their ears they turn their heads as though they heard naughtt and go on towards destruction. And so would we also had You in Your grace and mercy not shown Your love to us and opened our eyes to see and our ears to hear. Now, we ask that you continue to teach us wisdom that we might live in a worthy manner. We pray that You would continue to open the eyes and ears of the lost that they too would find You and salvation. We ask these things for the sake of Your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Song

God’s own fool by Michael Card