“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” – Proverbs 9:10
The Book of Proverbs offers wisdom for every arena of life. Multiple times it impresses on the reader the importance of God’s wisdom, contrasting it with the foolishness of man.
It often states that wisdom begins with a reverential, respectful, worshipful fear of God. If the foundation fails, then anything above it will crumble. If our wisdom does not begin with fearing God then our reasoning will be faulty, our conclusions unreliable, and ultimately our understanding and decisions will be wrong.
Yet God’s offer of wisdom mostly goes unnoticed and is not sought. Many people treat the Bible like the shipping forecast from the Met Office. I’ve heard people with no connection to sailing or the sea explain why they like to listen to the shipping forecast if they happen to be awake at 5:30. They find it soothing, reliable, consistent and authoritative. Yet as they never sail it has no impact or application.
Sadly, many non-believers and believers treat God’s Word and His wisdom the same way. They like that its there, they may even read it or go to church from time to time, but it has no impact on them or application to them.
Jesus told a parable of the wise and foolish builders. The foolish man built on the sand of human reasoning and his house, his life, collapsed.
The wise man built on the solid rock of God’s wisdom and his house, his life, stood firm.
Jesus invites us to build our lives on His wisdom, to confess ourselves as sinners and to receive Him as our Saviour.
Proverbs describes wisdom as crying in the streets. The offer of God’s wisdom is there, will you receive it and apply it?
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