This week we continued from the previous lesson in the Bible Project’s Creation series, watching a video about Proverbs 8. This video focuses upon how God’s wisdom is personified in Proverbs as Lady Wisdom, calling all who are willing to come experience the blessings of her wisdom, and the way of life that leads to flourishing. To live with wisdom is to live in accordance with who God is and how he desires for us to live our lives, and the outcome of living this way is blessing the people and world around us.
Part of Proverbs 8 goes into a great poem about how Wisdom was present with God through the whole process of creation, as he carved out the world and filled it. Living with wisdom leads to life, because the whole Creation has been woven and held together by God’s wisdom.
The video we watched did not go into detail about this, but there is actually a case to be made that Paul connects Lady Wisdom from Proverbs 8 to Jesus. In Colossians 1 we see a great “hymn” about Christ’s “preeminence” among creation, as all things were created through him, for him, and are held together by him. He is also called the “firstborn” of creation, which could have ties to the way Lady Wisdom describes herself as being brought forth in Proverbs 8.
Whether or not this connection was intentional by Paul, we know that Jesus is the ultimate example of a human (although he is also fully God!) living with God’s wisdom in the way that Proverbs calls all people to live with. As Jesus does this, he also calls us to do live with this wisdom! God has woven his Wisdom into creation, and we simply have to come to him in faith and embrace that wisdom. James 1:5–6 says that God will give it generously to all who ask of him with faith!
Seeing this connection to Jesus, though, shows us even more clearly that to live with wisdom is to live in the way that Jesus lived. It’s to live humbly, and sacrificially, seeking to build up those around us in love. Jesus did not come to use and abuse people for his own gain, but rather he gave of himself so that those around him could know true life and experience the love and grace of God through his sacrifice. As followers of Christ, walking in this example is the way that we embrace the Wisdom of the book of Proverbs!
