Proverbs 8:22-36 - God's Greater Wisdom

Proverbs 8:22-36

²² “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.
²³ “From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times 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 were settled, before the hills I was brought forth;
²⁶ While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world.
²⁷ “When He established the heavens, I was there, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸ When He made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed,
²⁹ 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;
³⁰ Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him,
³¹ Rejoicing in the world, His earth, and having my delight in the sons of men.

³² “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways.
³³ “Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.
³⁴ “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts.
³⁵ “For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.
³⁶ “But he who sins against me injures himself; all those who hate me love death.”

 
Message: God's Greater Wisdom

Time: It seems that Proverbs was written and then compiled sometime between the tenth and sixth centuries B.C. Proverbs was probably written during the reign of Solomon, 971-931 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

This has been an interesting chapter as wisdom speaks to me. It started out with an 11 verse address to "listen up." And then 10 more verses on simply the value of wisdom and how it is the key ingredient in all of life and for all positions of life. Wisdom transcends all the roles of life and our desire is to run out evil and embrace the truth.

This set of verses continues the thought. These verses have thought to be at many times to personify Christ and the coming Messiah.

The Lord possessed me. God was in me. I can see why people think this is talking of Jesus, but to keep the thought of wisdom in this chapter, we see that the Lord owns wisdom. Wisdom is possible apart from God. But, the kind of wisdom that rules life and is what we want comes from God possessing it. Lord, help me to surrender to you each day and allow your wisdom to be in my life. It is like a crescendo, an instrument of praise. Throughout scripture we have this idea of “In the Beginning God.” God establishes his creation and all the things in it and everything is meant to be for us. Lord, help me to be more thankful of you and what you have done. Help me Jesus to be reminded that surely you are in this place. I get too focused on tomorrow and what it needs to look like. But bring me back to past victories. I do not want to be wise in my own eyes. I want to gain wisdom from above.

Now….

….therefore….

Sons….Listen to me – blessed are they who keep my ways.
Heed instruction

Be wise

-          Don’t neglect it

-          You are blessed [simply] for listening to me

o   Watching daily at my gates

o   Waiting at my doorposts

He who finds me finds life.

He who finds me obtains favor from the Lord.

But….

He who sins against me injures himself

 All those who hate me love death

Promise: God has a greater wisdom.