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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Proverbs 8:23
“I was appointed from Eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.”
Wisdom is eternal.
In this chapter, Wisdom personified cries out to us – “Gain prudence… gain understanding” (v 5); “I possess knowledge and discretion” (v 12).
But gaining wisdom doesn’t just happen. It comes from a conscious decision and act of the will. A determined choice – not just wishful thinking or a miracle. Like everything else, it takes dogged determination, persistence and a strenuous and focused discipline.
That’s what Paul means when he talks about “The renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). It isn’t automatic. As the computer programmers tell us: – “Garbage in equals garbage out.” You fill your brain, which is like a computer, with rubbish and that is what will come out. Indeed, that is what is in there already programmed by the enemy. What we have to do is ‘overwrite’ it with wisdom, the Kingdom of God culture and a Biblical world-view, and then ‘save’ it.
First, we have to read the Word, then study and meditate upon it and then, best of all, memorise it. Only then will we be able to use it and live it out, thus putting it into practice. So choose wisdom. You will never regret it.
I said earlier that wisdom was ‘personified’, and our verse highlights the thrust of this chapter. Wisdom is Eternal. Wisdom is like God.
“The Lord brought me forth as the first of His works, before His deeds of old; I was appointed from Eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.
When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before He made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world.
I was there when He set the Heavens in place, when He marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, 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.
Then I was the craftsman at His side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His Presence, rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind” (v 22–31).
The Holy Spirit is the energy of creation. “The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2). His role is also to “guide you (us) into all truth” (John 16:13). Jesus also said, that the Spirit will take “from what is Mine and (make) it known to you” (John 16:14).
So we equate Wisdom here, with the Holy Spirit. He is a Person – the third Person of the Trinity, the Eternal Godhead and so it is right to ‘personify’ wisdom as the Spirit of God.
That is a reason why Paul recognises two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as “wisdom” and “knowledge” (1 Corinthians 12:8).
No wonder the chapter ends, “For whoever finds Me finds Life and receives favour from the Lord” (Proverbs 8:35).
James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).
Whatever you do today, or whatever challenges you face, submit them all to the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
And then remember this, if necessary – Wisdom is only a prayer away.
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