Scripture
"Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways." --Proverbs 8:32
Observe
The Therefore
"When you see a 'therefore', find out what it's there for, for it's there for a reason."
In the original Hebrew, the word for "therefore" is "attah", which means "now". In English, we could translate it as, "so".
Imagine if you walked in a room to the end of someone's joke: "So the farmer says, 'We didn't knead it anyway!'" Everyone in the room busts up laughing, but you're confused. All you heard was the punchline.
This verse is the punchline of Proverbs 8.
Wisdom is making her final statement that ties everything together. She says, "So you really want to listen to be, because people who do are spoiled rotten by God."
As a stand-alone statement that sounds pretty easy to understand, but just like you need to hear the whole joke for the punchline to be funny, we need to look at the rest of what Wisdom says, in order to understand the HUGENESS of what she is saying.
So, let's back up a couple of verses, and read Proverbs 8:22-31:
“The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills I was brought forth; While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, Nor the first dust of the world.
When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men."
The Context
On Day 3, we talked about how wisdom is an attribute of God, which He gives to us through His Holy Spirit.
We discussed how Heaven and Earth were made by the Wisdom of God, and how it gives us worth as people and advantage in every situation of life.
But today, Solomon is not talking about Wisdom. Instead SHE declares her own existence and gives her own history.
And there is distinct purpose in the WAY she talks.
Have you ever read the book of Job?
For those of you who haven't, the basic context of the story is this: There's a guy named Job who undergoes a tremendous amount of suffering for God; in the midst of it, he has a bunch of friends visit--who make him feel like he must have sinned; he tells them that he hasn't sinned and tries to defend himself and God.
There is A LOT MORE in the book of Job, but my favorite part is when God shows up, and puts all of them in their place.
Read what He says in Job 38:1-11.
"Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
'Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
'Or who enclosed the sea with doors when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; when I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it and set a bolt and doors, and I said, "Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop"?'"
Answering the Question
Who was there when God started the beginning?
Wisdom.
And the whole time, she cheered God on and rejoiced with Him in the beauty and perfection of His creation.
God doesn't just have an acquaintance with Wisdom; they're inseperable.
Apply
On Day 7, we learned that pursuing Wisdom is a way of getting to know God.This passage affirms it.
Wisdom tells us, "Because of who I am and where I've been with God, learn from me. God will reward you for it."
Remember the whole family analogy?
Wisdom is like an older sister who has gone before us.
Want to learn the layout of your high school? She knows; she's went there first. Want to know which professors are good in college? She knows; she's studied under them first. Want to know the quickest way to the mall? She knows; she's driven there many times.
Want to get to know God? Wisdom knows. She knew Him first.
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