in the squares she raises her voice.
At the busiest corner 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?
Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you. . . .
but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Throughout scripture, we are given glimpses of the character of our God. Here, we are shown the attribute of His wisdom.
“By whom God calls to us—by wisdom. It is wisdom that crieth without. The word is plural—wisdoms, for, as there is infinite wisdom in God, so there is the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. 3:10. God speaks to the children of men by all the kinds of wisdom, and, as in every will, so in every word, of God there is a counsel.” (Henry, M. 1996, c1991. Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Pr 1:20). Hendrickson: Peabody)
What’s particularly lovely about this for women is that this attribute or characteristic of God is denoted as being female. And I believe this isn’t a fluke or simply a cultural thing of the Jews. God Himself truly isn’t gendered. Rather, He is without gender and we—both men and women—are made in His image. It’s one of the wonderful things about having a relationship with our Creator (and now our Savior): that relationship is a natural outgrowth of who we are because we were made to be, in some ways, like Him (as much as a creation can be like the Creator). How glorious is that!
Notice there are two components of the giving of wisdom:
• It comes like a reproof, comparing wisdom to being simple
• There is the promise of living securely, without dread when we follow wisdom
This passage in Proverbs tells us that those who don’t have wisdom have three characteristics:
• They love being simple
• They delight in their scoffing
• They hate knowledge
I think about many Christians today. We have learned to rely upon others for our own Christian growth. Most Christians, I would guess (and based on conversations I’ve had with Christians all over the world) don’t study the Bible on their own on a daily basis, but rather rely on printed devotional books, internet studies, etc. And while this is all good, the fact is, you never really learn something until you dig into it on your own. One of the reasons I began writing these studies (years ago) was to reemphasize in my own life what I was reading and studying that day. Reading it was one thing; writing it down was another thing completely. It also gives me a measure to see if, from that time in the past until now, there has been any change, any growth in my life.
The fact is that just reading what someone else has written is rather easy unless we really meditate on it (ask ourselves questions, discuss it with another, etc.). And not having a study time is even easier.
We love being simple.
Another reason that people avoid Bible studies is that studying the Word confronts us with our own sin, our own failures. And, to be honest, that’s something we’d rather avoid. It’s one reason why waiting until church to pray is so much easier than praying while we’re alone, just us and God. We would probably like to avoid that knowledge and wish that we were better than we really are.
But when we live this way, in this kind of denial, we open ourselves up to anxiety, dread about the future, and plain ol’ simple worry. We haven’t taken the time to consult with God (“What’s the best thing to do?”) nor to lay our concerns at His feet. And so, life becomes more and more stressful and we don’t understand why.
The Holy Spirit is telling us here that gaining wisdom from Him is what will set us free from these things.
What’s interesting is that this passage doesn’t tell us that we will live free from disaster, but that we will live free from the dread of disaster (two far different things). God never promised to remove us from the trials of life, only that He would make everything work for our good if we trusted Him (Romans 8:28). When we seek God for wisdom, we gain insight and wisdom in how to approach situations. We are no longer afraid of the future because we know that “God and me are a majority.” It doesn’t get any better than that!
© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).
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