Proverbs 8
Proverbs 8:1-36 (NLT)
1 Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice!
2 On the hilltop along the road, she takes her stand at the crossroads.
3 By the gates at the entrance to the town, on the road leading in, she cries aloud,
4 “I call to you, to all of you! I raise my voice to all people.
5 You simple people, use good judgment. You foolish people, show some understanding.
6 Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right,
7 for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception.
8 My advice is wholesome. There is nothing devious or crooked in it.
9 My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge.
10 Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.
11 For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.
12 “I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.
13 All who fear the LORD will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech.
14 Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.
15 Because of me, kings reign, and rulers make just decrees.
16 Rulers lead with my help, and nobles make righteous judgments.
17 “I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me.
18 I have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice.
19 My gifts are better than gold, even the purest gold, my wages better than sterling silver!
20 I walk in righteousness, in paths of justice.
21 Those who love me inherit wealth. I will fill their treasuries.
22 “The LORD formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else.
23 I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began.
24 I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters.
25 Before the mountains were formed, before the hills, I was born—
26 before he had made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil.
27 I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans.
28 I was there when he set the clouds above, when he established springs deep in the earth.
29 I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,
30 I was the architect at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence.
31 And how happy I was with the world he created; how I rejoiced with the human family!
32 “And so, my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful.
33 Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it.
34 Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home!
35 For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.
36 But those who miss me injure themselves. All who hate me love death.”
There is no need for an awakening to something new and born from the minds of the elevated elite. There is no absence that needs to be filled by a never-before-seen awareness. Though there may be little adherence to it and much payment for ignoring it altogether, there is an abundance of wisdom and understanding that existed long before the forming of any of the tiny minds that would deem to displace it. While they would presume to be making things right, in actuality, anything that has ever been right has come from this wisdom that has been all along. How much better it would be to listen intently to the same voice that has been heard and adhered to by all with enduring success through the ages than to conjure up some haunting echoes of foolishness that have persisted through the ages. There is really nothing new. Wisdom and foolishness have always been and will always be. Choosing the secure path that will keep you from falling will always be one where God’s wisdom is beckoning, while the choice of independence from His truth will always lead to the precarious teeterings of ignorance and imprudence.
There is a barrage of pressure to heed the popular leaning dictated by the deniers of God’s ways. To stand immovable against these forces, there is a requirement of the intense, singular pursuit of only the voice that comes from above. In His Word and at His feet, there will be guidance from a voice that is not soiled and perverted by constant exposure to the voices of perversion. This choice will make way for all right choices to follow. The humble embrace of His every word will establish a standard against every threat of stupidity and its peril. No matter the devastation of previously corrupted guidance, there is an immediate benefit to fixation on Wisdom’s voice with a zeal for responding to it.