Lady Wisdom Speaks

Rebooted June 8,2022

4 "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live. 5 O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it. ... 8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. 

Lady Wisdom is wise beyond our knowing. She was at the beginning of creation.  She knows the workings of God inside and out.  And she offers us just a peek at the depth of her treasures.  

All she asks is that we take her words to heart. To believe that she knows what she is talking about.  That she can help us to live a rich and full life without all the trappings of the silver and gold we think we need.  

Actually, she offers us all that we could ever want or need.  All that is truly important, and extremely helpful, for our living in a world that offers the opposite advice.

She offers strength!

     She gives us insight!  

                And she delivers justice!

                       She promises pure wealth! 

The wealth of peace of mind and the joy provided by her presence.  

Her wisdom out weighs anything that this world has to offer. 

Wisdom is on the side of those who want to live according to God’s will. 

She is here to walk with each one of us though all the arrogance and prideful behavior that surrounds us daily as we move about on this earth.  

I don’t know about you, but it seems a whole lot easier to listen to Lady Wisdom than the bullies that roam our world.  The bullies in our personal lives and those we don’t know, but affect our environment. 

Listen to her invitation!

4 "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live. 5 O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it. 6 Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right; 7 for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. 9 They are all straight to one who understands and right to those who find knowledge. 10 Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold; 11 for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. 12 I, wisdom, live with prudence, and I attain knowledge and discretion. 13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. 14 I have good advice and sound wisdom; I have insight, I have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; 16 by me rulers rule, and nobles, all who govern rightly. 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. 18 Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and prosperity. 19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. 20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, 21 endowing with wealth those who love me, and filling their treasuries.(Proverbs 8:4-21)

Meet Lady Wisdom

I draw your attention to the words of Lady Wisdom.  

Lady Wisdom speaks to all who will listen.  She has many things to say to us about why she thinks it is important to know God.   

In the passage today she is establishing her part of the three persons of God:  

22 The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

There are some who want to suggest that Lady  Wisdom is Jesus.  But others — including myself — think that Lady Wisdom is the Holy Spirit.  The one that Jesus left us with to guide us into all truth.  

I think that she is the Holy Spirit, because it was the wind — ruah (Hebrew word for wind) — that swept over the face of the deep in the beginning.  When the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep….(Gen. 1)

It is common knowledge that the Spirit is God's breath. The Greek word for Spirit is pneuma.  Which means wind, breath, life.

Question!  Have you ever given any thought to the possibility that God is still creating in our world today?

Maybe not land or sea, flying birds, or crawling  creatures.  But rather new information, new understanding , new circumstances,  new attitudes?  

Personally, I believe that God's Spirit is quite active in all of those areas of our world today.  And most probably many other areas!

 1 Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? 2 On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; 3 beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:….. 22 The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth— 26 when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world's first bits of soil. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race. (Prov. 8:1-4,22-31) 

Tomorrow we will hear more from Lady Wisdom.

Question On The Holy Spirit.

I wrote blogs in February — 13th,14th & 15th — talking about the Holy Spirit.  One of those blogs was titled: How Might the Holy Spirit Speak To Us?  But I never truly answered the question. For some reason I just repeated the Blog: Lady Wisdom Speaks. 

I think I would have answered that question --  How Might the Holy Spirit Speak To Us? -- by saying something like:  We are not told how the Spirit communicates with us.  At the same time we are told that the Spirit does guide and lead us. 

I personally believe that God’s Spirit comes into our thoughts at any given moment.  

I know there are times when I have been tapped on brain by a message or a word that, I will say, did not come from me.  It often happens during conversation with others.   

Sometime when I am working on a possible sermon. It often happened while driving in the car.  Driving is a great way to fine inspiration.  I have used many a fast-food napkins to write on during my driving time.  Is that safe?  Probably not!  But it has worked for me for many years.

So, having answered that unanswered question; let me continue with our readers thoughts:

1) “Seeking guidance allows the spirit to move through us out into the world.  To sit and pray that everything is in God’s hands feels to me to diminish that responsibility to think beyond myself.  

2) The spirit moves through all of us in different ways.  At this time of our lives, we are tiring and have less energy.  It has been time for you to pray and write, after your many years of helping as a pastor.  

3) The spirit is working differently in me I guess, and I’m trying to listen to what is next.  

4) Maybe you could think about how the spirit moves differently in each of us to work on the needs of our world today.  Or not.

 5) Curiosity is one of our greatest gifts.  (Maybe that’s a topic to think about).”

The Holy Spirit, to me, is the key to all of theology ( the study of God).  The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the Creator God.  

For those of you who might not be familiar with the Hebrew meaning of Spirit, it is considered “wind.” The Greek is “Breath.”  

It is, in my understanding, the part of God that breathes life and knowledge into the human being. 

In the beginning of time it was the “wind” that blew over the face of the void.

1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, (Gen. 1)

We are also told of this Spirit In the Book of Proverb:

22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. 24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; 25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, 26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. 27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, 28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, 29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. 30 Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, 31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. (Prov. 8)

In the New Testament the Spirit is the gift that God leaves us with when he leave his physical body:

25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. (John 14)

Let me first address your thought on prayer verses responsibility.  In my way of thinking these two are not separate.  Instead they work together.  By being attentive in prayer the Holy Spirit becomes present to our conscience; and prompts us to be and do what is needed.  That is to do those things that match the gift that God has blessed us with ( that I wrote about a few days — or weeks ago).

I heard a sermon on this some years ago.  The point of the sermon was something like:  ‘We asked God to do for us, and make decisions for us, and be there for us.  But have you ever thought about the fact that God may be waiting for you to act — to do something?’

God expects us all to do.  To do our part to make the world a better place.  A better place according to God.  Not us!

As for your 2nd, 3rd & 4th points:  Yes, the Spirit’s movement is never, hardly ever, the same for any of us.  Because we are all like snowflakes — all different -- he Spirit honors our individual needs and purposes.  

You end with:  “Curiosity is one of our greatest gifts.  (Maybe that’s a topic to think about).”

Of all the reason that people search out God, curiosity is probably the number one ingredient that prompts us to search and wonder. 

The old-saying: “Curiosity killed cat!”   Is a misnomer!   I think it was part of what my mother, and your mother, would call “the pinko plot.”  It was away to get children not to be too nosy or precocious.

I now see it as away to control behavior that could create problems.  Problems mostly for the parent or the teacher.  Not the child.

In my humble opinion God love a curious mind.  

But, what do I know really?