In light of the fact that things are ramping up a bit during this season, I am going to suspend Praying through the Proverbs until the New Year. This will be the last installment of 2018.

In these the last few weeks leading up to Christmas, we continue on our Advent journey of seeking and preparation for the coming of Christ into our world and into our hearts. We also continue our search for wisdom, revelation that comes from God when we are keen to explore the Word and open to the whispered call of the Holy Spirit. This week we reflect on Chapter 9 of the book of Proverbs which can be found by following the link below:

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=411541680

In this chapter we can see two themes. One is an invitation, or set of invitations, and the other is a set of maxims for those seeking the way of wisdom.

As we look first at the invitations we can see a clear contrast between the invitation from Woman Wisdom and the Foolish Woman. The first and clearest contrast is that of Wisdom and Folly, and it is from this primary difference that each invitation grows. In the invitation from Woman Wisdom, we see that all that is offered comes from Wisdom herself. She offers her home, the slaughtered animals, the wine, and her own maids for the serving of the meal. On Folly’s side, we see that she sits at the front door, not opening her house to her guests, inviting them to drink water that has been stolen, eat food that is not shared, but consumed in secret. What we see here is that what Wisdom offers is guaranteed, while what is offered by Folly is not. Other differences can be seen, but this significant piece should not be overlooked. Where Wisdom and what Wisdom offers represents God and God’s providence, Folly represents what we seek on our own and for ourselves. God’s gifts come in abundance while what we seek for ourselves ultimately withers and decays.

This feeds directly into the few verses in between the invitation that talks of those who truly seek wisdom and those who merely think they are wise. There is a line in these verses that exemplifies the difference between the two invitations that we talked about and it is, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” These words should be familiar as we have heard them before in our reading of the Proverbs thus far. When we talk about beginning our journey of wisdom with the fear of God and knowledge of the Holy One, we are acknowledging that what we seek is beyond ourselves, greater than ourselves, and not our own. What we receive in the way of wisdom and blessings come from God, knows no limit, and cannot be contained.

As we reflect in this season of Advent, as we light the four candles of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, let us remember this in prayer:

The Hope that we seek comes from you O God: Hope for a world without fear, a world that you can already see.
The Peace that we seek comes from you O God: Peace in lives turned upside down, justice that you are already bringing to the world.
The Joy that we seek comes from you O God: Joy in living into the call that you have for us, walking in a way that your feet have already walked.
The Love that we seek comes from you O God: Love without end or condition, Love that is all enveloping and all-forgiving, a Love that you have already given us.

Continue to go with us, we pray, through Advent nights into Christmas Mornings. AMEN

Advent and Christmas Blessings,
Rev. Richard