True Wisdom
Proverbs 8:27-31
Wisdom is the subject of the book of Proverbs. If we study this book of wisdom we will learn to flourish in we how to use our words, bodies, money, and time. To a hurried reader of Proverbs, it might appear that wisdom is only about right action. This conclusion, however, would be a grave mistake, for this book teaches that true wisdom is first a matter of the heart. Only from a wise heart will wise actions arise.
One passage that sheds light on this truth is Proverbs 8:27-31. These verses explain that true wisdom is enjoying God, creation, and neighbor. Wise action will flow from such joy. Two observations will help deepen our appreciation of this truth.
1.Wisdom is a person. Starting in verse 12 of the chapter Wisdom is personified and speaks for himself through the end of the chapter. True wisdom has a voice of his own because true wisdom isn’t merely a collection of dos and don’ts. Wisdom is a person. According to Wisdom, he has always been with God. Consider verse 27, “When he established the heavens, I was there.” The New Testament helps us put the pieces together explaining that Jesus Christ, who is God and was with God from the beginning, is Wisdom from God (John 1:1-3; 1 Cor. 1:30). Therefore, if we hope to be truly wise we must look supremely to Jesus. Further, the text explains what Wisdom enjoys.
2. Wisdom’s joy. In verses 30-31, Wisdom tells us what he enjoys, “I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.” From before the foundation of the world, the three persons of the one God have enjoyed one another. The Trinity is a revolving glory of delight among the Father, Son, and Spirit. This joy cannot be contained but overflows into the created world, and upon human beings created in the image of the triune God. So then, to become truly wise we must become like Wisdom himself. We must come to enjoy God, and out of that overflow enjoy creation and neighbor. Jesus went to the cross so that we could become like him in this respect.
Sin turns us inward enslaving us to a foolishness. This folly causes us to see God as an obstacle to joy, creation as a resource to be abused, and our neighbors as something we can use for our own ends. On every front enjoyment is exchanged for exploitation.
However, for the joy set before him he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. As we behold the Jesus of the cross and empty tomb we will become like him. Welcomed into his joy, his joy will be poured into our hearts, and his joy will overflow in our lives. As we become like Wisdom himself only then can we enjoy God for his own beauty and the creation and neighbors he gave to us. This is true wisdom.
