A Message of Hope

I hope that  you’ve already read this post,  where I described the role of Wisdom in creation, and how wisdom was woven into the fabric of t he universe.  You may remember that Proverbs 8 describes  how Lady Wisdom proceeded eternally from God’s very nature, and was the craftsman of creation. 

 If that sounded familiar, it may have because, while the Hebrews spoke of chokmah (skill or wisdom), the Greeks spoke of the Logos , or “the Word.”   The apostle John, who was a Hebrew writing in Greek, merged these two concepts when he wrote in John 1:

 In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was with God in the beginning.    Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)

Here we see the Logos, the Word, doing what Lady Wisdom did in Proverbs.  But John goes on to tell us more than the author of the Proverbs could  have ever told  us.  This is simply because, when the Proverbs were compiled it hadn’t happened yet.  By the time John lived, however, it had happened and John had seen it with his own eyes.

The Logos became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

 God’s Wisdom came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, so that we don’t have to wonder what a skillfully lived life looks like.  He lived life perfectly, to the full – because he is the Creator of Life the Master of it, and he came to give abundant, eternal life.

 The good news is that he died, so that we could have that life, too.  He rose again and he sent his Spirit, so that our chaotic lives can be built according to the plan that God has for us.  And today we can read his Word and listen to his Spirit and we can discern the work that God wants to do so that our lives display his skill craftsmanship.

 That’s what it means to experience grace. 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

 When we begin to do the good works that God has created us in Christ, in the Logos,  to do, that is when we become skilled in the art of living—that is when we are living wisely.

In the last couple of posts, we’ve looked at the Hebrew concept of chokmah, which means skill, but also means wisdom.  Wisdom is the skill of living.  Wisdom procedes from the very nature of God, is woven into the fabric of creation, and is the key for bringing order into the chaos of our lives.

So how do we let wisdom do her work in our lives?  We’re all under construction, and none of us are yet a completed work.  With some people, even though their lives are not yet what they are going to be, it’s obvious that wisdom’s plan is being followed–they’re taking the right shape and becoming what God designed them to be.  There are others, however, whose lives aren’t taking shape – they’re becoming more chaotic.  How can you  make sure that your life is following God’s plan?

According  to the wisdom literature of the Bible, the place to start learning skill in the art of living life is by cultivating the fear of the Lord. 

 Job said in Job 28:28 that [God] said to man,

       ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
       and to shun evil is understanding.’ “

 The psalmist said in Psalm 86:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
       all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
       To him belongs eternal praise.

 And in the opening verses of the book of Proverbs (1:7), we read,

 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
       but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

The New Testament, like the Old, exhorts us to live in the fear of God.  Yet John tells us that perfect love casts out fear.  We know that we have been given the right to be called children of God; we know that nothing on heaven or earth can separate us from God’s love.  So what is this “fear” that Scripture talks about.  Well, it’s talking about a particular attitude that we should develop.  And while there are probably many different ways that we could talk about it, I’d like to suggest that we recognize two very important contrasts.

First, if we have the fear of the Lord, we will recognize the difference between the Infinite and the finite.  We will recognize that God, who created billions of galaxies, is greater than all of them combined.  We will recognize that he inhabits all of the future and all of the past and all of the present.  We will recognize that he dwells in all places and that no thought is hidden from him.  He is clothed in power, glory, and dominion, he reigns over the cosmos in the beauty of holiness.   

 As for us, on the other hand – well, we’re not in his league.  In fact, no one or nothing else is in his league.  There is no one that we can compare to God.  And that should inspire us to hold Him in awe and to view ourselves with deep humility.  I’m not talking about self-loathing, but genuine humility in which we recognize our place in the universe.  Wisdom begins with the conscious recognition that all we have and are come from God and that every  aspect of our lives must be under his dominion.  We will grow in skillful living as we daily cultivate the attitude of awe and humility in our walk with God.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
       And what does the LORD require of you?
       To act justly and to love mercy
       and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

 So, to live in the fear of the Lord is to recognize the difference between the Inifinite God and our own finite-ness.  And it’s also to recognize the difference between the Temporal and the Eternal.  The “temporal” are those things that are “time bound,” that don’t last forever.  Eternal things last forever.  So it seems obvious that our lives should focus on t hose things that are eternal, and yet we get seduced into giving more attention to temporal things.  I’m not sure why that is.  Maybe because our own bodies, our own flesh, is temporal, that temporal things appear to be so much more real.  The things that we usually consider to be “real world” situations—houses, money, cars, jobs,–those things are real, but they are temporary – so they will not always be real. 

 We,  however, are eternal.    We will always be real.  Now, we’re not eternal in both directions, like God is, but we will live eternally into the future.  So it makes sense that we align our lives with eternal values instead of with things and values that will disappear soon.  We should remind ourselves daily that we are ‘aliens and strangers’ (1 Peter 2:11) on earth and that our true citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). 

Yet while, we ourselves are eternal, our days in this life are finite.  And this knowledge should motivate us to live wisely and skillfully.

 Moses prayed in Psalm 90:12,

Teach us to number our days aright,
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

 To number our days aright means to recognize that they are limited – and Moses says that recognizing this is the pathway to having a heart of wisdom.

In a previous post, I referred to Kenneth Boa.  He says that “The great saints through the ages learned the wisdom of having only two days on t heir calendars:  today and that day (the day they would be with the Lord). “  What if we cleared out our refrigerator calendars and our day timers and our iPhone calendars aand lived in light of the only two days that  are guaranteed to us – today, and that day.

 It is living with this perspective, of distinguishing between the things that last forever, and the things that are temporary, and it is knowing the difference between the Infinite and the Finite – that will help us to live with the fear of the Lord – and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the skill of living.

In the last post, we looked at the Hebrew concept of chokmah, which basically means “a practical or artistic skill.”  Then we noted that chokmah is also the Hebrew word for wisdom.  We defined wisdom as “the skill of living.”

If we want to learn to live life well – if we want to be skillful at life – then we need to ask God for wisdom.  The Bible is clear that wisdom does come from God.

 If you look at the beginning of Proverbs 8 in your Bible, it may say something like “Wisdom’s Call.”  This chapter is a poem in which wisdom is personified – is represented as a person – as a woman to be more precise – and wisdom calls out and urges people to live according to  her teachings.  In verse 22, Lady Wisdom says, “The Lord brought me out as the first of his works” – wisdom came forth from God before God created anything else.  She says in verse 23, “I was appointed from eternity” – Because wisdom comes from God’s very being, she is as eternal as God is eternal.  She says that she was present with God throughout creation, and in verses 30-31 she says,

 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.

 Notice the idea of Wisdom being the craftsman of creation, and how she found joy and delight in this process.  The nature of Wisdom is built into the very fabric of our universe, and if we want to be successful craftsmen in the skill of living, then we would do well to listen to her words.  That’s why she goes on to say,

Blessed is the man who listens to me,
       watching daily at my doors,
       waiting at my doorway.
For whoever finds me finds life
       and receives favor from the LORD.
But whoever fails to find me harms himself;
       all who hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:34-36)

 So Lady Wisdom says, “If you find me, you find life.  If you fail, to find me, you harm yourself.  If you hate me – if you willfully reject me—then you will find death instead of life.”

God is the source of Wisdom, and he has woven her into his creation.  If we want to live successfully in this world, then we must listen to the words of Wisdom. 

 If you look at Genesis 1, creation is viewed as God taking some raw materials that were in a chaotic state  and God fashioned a beautiful world out of them.  In Proverbs 8, wisdom says that she was there even before chaos, and she was God’s agent in taking the chaos and was the craftsman who formed this amazing creation. 

 Right now you may think that the word “chaos” describes your life, that it’s a mess.  You may be right.  But I believe that God has already assembled all of the raw materials in you that you need to lead a beautiful, skillful life.   You are made in God’s image.  His blueprint is stamped on you, and Wisdom is the craftsman who can take that blueprint and the raw materials of your life and craft you into the person that god designed you to be!

If I’m ever tempted to be envious, it’s usually not of people who possess things that I don’t have, but of those who have skills that I don’t have.  There are all kinds of skills that I just don’t have a clue about – whether it’s welding metal or construction or carpentry or plumbing, or auto mechanics or electrical work – I can only do the most basic tasks in any of those areas.  I don’t know how to run a business or to come up with new ways of making make money.  I can’t do surgery or do accounting.  And sometimes when I see people that can do those kinds of things and it seems like it comes so naturally to them, I get a little bit envious.

 Now, I’m not trying to put myself down.  I do have some skills that not everyone has.  I know that, for some of you, standing in a pulpit every week would scare you to death, and I’m thinking – “What’s the big deal?”  Which is what you’re thinking when I call you and ask you to help me fix a leak or saw a piece of wood. 

 We all have certain skills that we have and others that we don’t, but then, there’s at least one skill that we all need to have, and that is the skill of living. 

 Unfortunately, some are more skilled at living than others.  We all know people who are alive, but who aren’t very skilled at life.  They are what Dave Ramsey calls “Murphy Magnets.”  If something bad is going to happen, it’s going to happen to them.  Now, of course, bad things happen to every one.  But some people just seemed to be faced with one disaster after another, so much so, that you begin to wonder, “Is some of this self-inflicted?” 

 Other people manage quite well in some areas, but not in others.  Maybe they’re great at running a business, but have no skills with their families.  Maybe they can quickly get a vision as to how to remodel a bathroom, but when it comes to renovating a broken relationship, they don’t know where to start.

 One resource that I’ve been introduced to recently that has helped me know how to talk about this is a book by Kenneth Boa called, Conformed to His Image (Zondervan, 2001).   It carries the subtitle, “Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation.”  The things that Boa shares have made an impact on me and my own spiritual growth, so a lot of what I’ll be sharing in these next few posts comes from his book, but I’ve also included a lot of thoughts that  I felt God was showing me as I developed this lesson.

 The word that the Old Testament uses for “knowing how to do things” is chokmah –and it’s a basic meaning is “skill.”  One place it’s used quite often is in talking about all the skills that were needed to build the Tabernacle.  This passage is typical:

 Exodus 35:30-35

 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts-  to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers.

 I’m impressed that, at what we think of being under primitive conditions, the people of Israel had a lot of practical skills.  Then again, that might not be so surprising when we realized that they had been living in Egypt, which was at that stage the world’s most advanced civilization, for the past 400 years .  In order to work as slaves for the Egyptians, they had to acquire their skills.

But this word chokmah has another translation.  But I wanted to talk about it’s basic meaning of skill before talking about the main sense in whichI want to use it.  Because the word chokmah is also translated as “wisdom.”  And when we understand this, we understand better what wisdom is.  Wisdom is the skill of living life.