A Tale of Two Ladies--Lady Wisdom Proverbs 2

 

The father, King Solomon, starts his instruction today with some conditional statements. There are three "if statements"--"If you will receive my words" (vs 1); "If you call out for insight" (vs 3); and "If you seek it like silver" (vs 4).  And there are two "then statements"--"Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God" (vs 5);  and "Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;" (vs 9).  

These aren't conditions such as hoops you have to jump through; they are natural consequences to following, or not following, the wise teachings of a loving Father. The father wants his son to LISTEN, not just hear.  He wants him to consider the value of his teachings, to the good of both his mind and his heart.  He wants his son to actively pursue the real meanings, to call out and ask for it, like a student who's not afraid to raise his hand and ask the questions, instead of floundering and failing.  Finding wisdom takes work, much like a person mines for silver.  ( At this point in my writing, I went down a rabbit trail about as deep as an underground silver mining shaft.  I am now an expert in ancient silver mining procedures, and let me tell you, it's WORK with great WORTH!!)  He wants his son to be willing to go the extra mile, to work for it as hard as he would for a wage.  And just like the miners who follow successful protocol hit the mother lode, so will the son who seriously pursues wisdom!  

Wisdom from the hand of God carries with it a great store of  understanding and knowledge and discernment.  It distinguishes you from the wicked; it guards the integrity of your thoughts and actions; it guards the path that brings justice according to the wise Judge, watching over the ways of those who are His.  Wisdom helps to understand living, judgment, and ethics rightly.  

Wisdom guards us but it also liberates us!  We no longer have to live in fear of the consequences of bad decisions.  It delivers us from the way of evil, from the mob we met in chapter 1--who ignore the right path and run to ways of darkness.  It makes them actually happy to do wrong, the more perverted the better.  That path is crooked and dangerous, and at it's opening stands Lady Folly.  She's the one behind all the evil plans, using smooth words to convince anyone who would listen.  But the end of her path is death.  

"We know a line is crooked because we know what's straight" is a line from a Newsboys song.  That is going to be a recurring theme as we learn to follow the paths of  Lady Wisdom and/or Lady Folly to their logical conclusions.  A crooked path is treacherous, blind twists and turns, places for mobs to hide and attack.  We focus on fear and evil and perversion, because there is no loyalty when you walk with Lady Folly.  But Lady Wisdom leads you to walk in the way of the good and right.  If you are willing to live God's Way, you have a place in God's World.  God is our loyal Guard and the One who sets us free.  Receive His words and TREASURE them.  They are of the greatest value.