CULTIVATING WISDOM
Opening Prayer
Still my heart now, O God, and make me aware of your presence. Help me to hear your voice as I meditate on your Word.
Read PROVERBS 9
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Invitations of Wisdom and Folly
9 Wisdom has built her house;
she has set up[a] its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city,
4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
5 “Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of insight.”
7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
rebuke the wise and they will love you.
9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For through wisdom[b] your days will be many,
and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.
13 Folly is an unruly woman;
she is simple and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15 calling out to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way,
16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet;
food eaten in secret is delicious!”
18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 9:1 Septuagint, Syriac and Targum; Hebrew has hewn out
- Proverbs 9:11 Septuagint, Syriac and Targum; Hebrew me
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.’1
A few pages back I mentioned that, in the spring of 2022, I completed a 28-day long, 350-mile walk from Manchester to Exeter. I was walking from our front door to our daughter’s front door on a kind of pilgrimage. Although my walk was generally easy, by the end of the very first day and until about the third, everything hurt! The problem was I had set out as if to catch a bus or to reach an engagement in time. My city walking pace was simply too fast for a long walk. How wonderful when I learned to slow down, take in the scenery, and enjoy the journey! The second problem was that I had set off with too much in my pack and it was weighing me down. At the end of the first day, I had to call on my wife, Dawn, to meet me and relieve me of half its contents. I didn’t need all that stuff; I simply had to trust and travel light. The third lesson was that local people knew more than I did. New housing was being constructed, a bridge was closed, or a path rerouted and without local knowledge, I would have to find out the hard way. At 63 years of age, I had to take up the posture of a naive, simple youth in need of local help and course correction.
Today’s passage offers similar lessons, both for the journey of life and for navigating through the rest of the book of Proverbs. Wisdom is not attained overnight. It is acquired gradually and only by those who are teachable and open to new learning. Anyone who approaches life—and Proverbs—in this way, will gain much needed help and wisdom for the journey of life.
Apply
Read Proverbs 1–9 again. Reflect on your reading.
Closing prayer
Father, thank you for the wisdom you offer me in your Word. Help me, that your wisdom will continue to grow in me and that I will readily apply it wherever you lead.
1 Ps 90:12
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