Thought of the day – Tuesday 21st July 2020
Proverbs 8:22-36
“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
I have been established from everlasting,
From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains abounding with water,
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was brought forth
While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,
Or the primal dust of the world.
When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
When He established the clouds above,
When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
When He assigned to the sea its limit,
So that the waters would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth,
Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman.
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.”
In these verses, the writer speaks of the wisdom of God at creation. In fact, Wisdom is personified as the writer. Wisdom was ‘brought forth’ before creation even began. The description of creation in these verses is in poetic form and is beautifully written.
In Genesis we read of the creation of the world, and after each day, “the Lord saw that it is good” and after Day 6 when He had created man and woman he saw that “it was very good”. Proverbs says that every part of creation is good because God made it in His wisdom: “I was beside Him as a master craftsman.”
These verses in Proverbs are a figurative way to say that God is the source of wisdom. This true wisdom can only come from Him. All God has created and all He does come from His wisdom. He will never do anything or create anything that is not wise. God especially delights in human beings and invites us to find our greatest joy in Him too. He will never turn us away when we come to him.