Wisdom is Calling
By: Karen Padgett, Moody, AL
When my oldest son was almost 2 years old, I vividly remember holding his hand as we walked up and through a highway overpass returning from the beach. I was loaded down with towels and toys; my husband was behind me, loaded down with chairs and probably more toys. When we got close to the end of the walkway, my son broke away from my hand and ran ahead, unaware of the concrete stairs on the other side. We called his name, and we both yelled, “STOP!” And he did for a moment, just long enough to turn and gleefully smile at us, and then he continued running and fell headfirst down the stairs. Thankfully, he came away with only minor injuries, which he will never remember. I, however, came away with a scarring picture in my head of how God must so often view His children. How often do we as children of God, thinking ourselves wise and capable, ignorantly, gleefully, run headfirst to danger and death ahead? And God urgently calls out to lead us back to a safer, better path that leads to life.
This idea is so cleverly written in the book of Proverbs. In the very first chapter, we are introduced to a bold and noble woman. This woman is different from most figures in scripture because she is an embodiment of one of God’s own attributes; she is the personification of God’s own wisdom. Walking in her ways is walking in God’s. And like God’s, her ways always lead to life. We need to know her and heed her call.
Lady Wisdom shouts her call over the noise of the streets (1:20). She stands in the high places and at the gates of the city (8:3). She even sends out her maidens to deliver her message (9:3). Wisdom is neither hidden nor silent. Her call is simple, clear, and persistent. She begs the unwise of the world - the foolish, the naive, the scoffers, the wayward, and the complacent - to listen (1:22, 32). She offers vital, valuable reproof and counsel. In Proverbs 8:35, she promises, “For he who finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord.”
Wisdom is willing to prove herself to the skeptical. She asserts that her words are true. She hates the crooked words of the wicked and will only speak straightforward words in righteousness (8:7-9, 13). There are so many in the world peddling life-saving goods, but you can trust in Wisdom. She is more valuable than anything you can find in the world. She is even more valuable than silver and gold (8:10-12).
Wisdom’s ways also have practical value. Her ways bring peace, riches, honor, justice. By her, kings themselves rule and make fair laws (8:15-21). One cannot help but think of the picture of the kingdom Solomon, the likely author, once had when he listened to Wisdom. Oh, what his kingdom could have been!
Lady Wisdom also explains that she has been there since the beginning of time, an essential part of creation itself: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way…From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth…Rejoicing in the world, His earth. And having my delight in the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:22-23). It is through Wisdom, that God both created and has reached out to His creation. God, in His love and mercy, has invited us to share in His ancient wisdom, to lead us to Him, and to commune with Him. Who would reject this wisdom? Indeed, Wisdom proves herself. Yet, like Eve in the Garden, since creation, we take the wise guidance of the Lord and complicate it with the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
Enter Lady, or “Madame” Folly. Folly is a second “wisdom” character, representing the wisdom of the world. In chapter 9, we see both Lady Wisdom and Madame Folly preparing contrasting feasts. Wisdom once again calls publicly to the unwise, inviting them to dine with her. She has prepared quality food and drink and promises that “by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you.” (9:11) It will be a glorious feast with many rewards.
Madame Folly sits in her doorway like a prostitute calling out to the righteous, tempting them to join her in the pleasure of “stolen water” and “bread eaten in secret.” She appeals only to the lusts of the flesh. The righteous can join Folly, enjoy sin’s allurements, and still carry on with the appearance of righteousness. They can indulge in their desires maybe “just this once.” Little do they know that once they go inside her house, they will never come out. Inside, all of her guests are dead! That’s a horror movie plot twist!
Wisdom of the world only aligns itself with human instinct and never considers God. It looks within for answers, never without. It takes little work, only want. It only seeks to encourage, never correct. Enthusiastically, it calls to “Love yourself,” “Follow your heart,” “Live your truth!” But James 3 tells us that the wisdom of the world, a world running on human desire, is full of jealousy, selfish ambition, arrogance, and lies. And where this “earthly, natural, and demonic” thinking is, “there is disorder and every evil thing” (James 3:14-15).
You can certainly see these fruits in our self-loving, idolatrous culture. Our country is facing sky-rocketing crime and suicide rates. Humans find new, creative means of hate and violence with each passing headline. But even more so than physical death, rejecting God’s wisdom yields spiritual death and separation from God Himself. This has devastating eternal consequences. Be warned, sister: “Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God…” (1 Cor. 3:18-19).
We need to heed the call of Lady Wisdom, the call that leads to godly living here on Earth and glorious life in the hereafter. It will take some work. Indeed, Wisdom begs us to listen to her reproof and correction. We will have to face some uncomfortable truths and make some hard and often unpopular changes. We may even have to do some things that feel unnatural. That’s one reason Jesus’s teachings were so radical. Jesus calls us not to “love yourself” but to “deny yourself;” not to “follow your heart,” but to “take up your cross and follow Me,” not to “live your truth,” but to know that He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Jesus invites us to completely rely on God’s wisdom and reject our own flawed, human intuition.
That may seem daunting. How will we ever really know when we are walking in wisdom? We can test it. Let’s go back to James 3: “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom…the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” We know that the rain falls on both the good and the bad (Matt. 5:45). Wisdom will not ensure we are guarded from every misfortune. But when we are incorporating godly wisdom into our lives, we will see its fruits in our behaviors, and subsequently more godly, peaceful living. And that’s just the beginning! The eternal rewards are far more valuable.
Wisdom isn’t about strategically avoiding evil with our best behavior but desiring the things God desires. And our God, the “God of the living” (Matt. 22:32), desires to share His own life-giving nature with us. He desires for us to walk in His wisdom and to answer His simple, clear, and persistent call. It will lead us to everlasting life.