"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. Proverbs 8:22
We are about to enter one of the coolest passages of Scripture in all the Bible. For the next 10 verses we will be allowed to have an interview of sorts with wisdom. Several times we have seen wisdom personified so that we might learn more about wisdom. This time we are allowed into the very intimate counsel of God - before and during creation itself.
Wisdom first tells us, "Jehovah possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old." So the first thing we learn is that wisdom is a possession of God. He did not have to learn it or be taught wisdom by someone greater because there is no one greater. He is absolute and the ultimate over everything and everyone. The word "possessed" is the Hebrew word "qanah" which in this context means to create or to bring forth. Thus we see that before creation ever was - God created wisdom.
This brings me to an interesting thought. I hope you will tolerate me getting a little weird here, and yet I think this exercise may benefit all of us. God doesn't have wisdom - He IS wisdom. There was no need for a knowledge of wisdom up until God created the world, because all there was before this was the eternal fellowship of the Godhead. Being eternal and infinite - they knew all and had known it for all time. To try to express it to anyone would be foolish for they all knew from all time all there was to know and all that will ever be known. But God was about to create the world - and was going to reveal Himself through and to His creation.
We read the following in Psalm 19:1-4, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world." Since the heavens and the world was the creation of God - since the moment of their origin at His Word they have been telling of God's glory. Morning, noon, and night they do not cease to shout out His praises. Each new day the speak of God - they pour forth speech - and reveal knowledge of God. Yet prior to this - there was no need for these things - for the perfect eternal fellowship of the Godhead knew them perfectly.
With the creation of the earth, God was about to begin revealing Himself first through His creation - and then, with the creation of man - to His creation. This required a way to know God - a knowledge about God that was not inherent within His infinite knowing of Himself. Therefore God created wisdom. Wisdom is seeing God and knowing Him. Wisdom is learning to see all of life as God sees it. Wisdom comes from God - and if grasped correctly - leads us back to Him. So, before God ever revealed Himself through and to His creation - He first had to create or bring forth a way of comprehending Himself to what He was about to create. I know that this is a little wild to consider - but I believe in the end, it only causes us to think higher thoughts of God Himself - and to worship Him for Who He is.
Over the next several days we will take a look at the creation of wisdom - and how wisdom was with God as the earth was created. During our look at these 10 verses in Proverbs we will also have cause to consider how the creation itself is actually infused with the wisdom of God as well. Join us . . . it should be quite a journey!
We are about to enter one of the coolest passages of Scripture in all the Bible. For the next 10 verses we will be allowed to have an interview of sorts with wisdom. Several times we have seen wisdom personified so that we might learn more about wisdom. This time we are allowed into the very intimate counsel of God - before and during creation itself.
Wisdom first tells us, "Jehovah possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old." So the first thing we learn is that wisdom is a possession of God. He did not have to learn it or be taught wisdom by someone greater because there is no one greater. He is absolute and the ultimate over everything and everyone. The word "possessed" is the Hebrew word "qanah" which in this context means to create or to bring forth. Thus we see that before creation ever was - God created wisdom.
This brings me to an interesting thought. I hope you will tolerate me getting a little weird here, and yet I think this exercise may benefit all of us. God doesn't have wisdom - He IS wisdom. There was no need for a knowledge of wisdom up until God created the world, because all there was before this was the eternal fellowship of the Godhead. Being eternal and infinite - they knew all and had known it for all time. To try to express it to anyone would be foolish for they all knew from all time all there was to know and all that will ever be known. But God was about to create the world - and was going to reveal Himself through and to His creation.
We read the following in Psalm 19:1-4, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world." Since the heavens and the world was the creation of God - since the moment of their origin at His Word they have been telling of God's glory. Morning, noon, and night they do not cease to shout out His praises. Each new day the speak of God - they pour forth speech - and reveal knowledge of God. Yet prior to this - there was no need for these things - for the perfect eternal fellowship of the Godhead knew them perfectly.
With the creation of the earth, God was about to begin revealing Himself first through His creation - and then, with the creation of man - to His creation. This required a way to know God - a knowledge about God that was not inherent within His infinite knowing of Himself. Therefore God created wisdom. Wisdom is seeing God and knowing Him. Wisdom is learning to see all of life as God sees it. Wisdom comes from God - and if grasped correctly - leads us back to Him. So, before God ever revealed Himself through and to His creation - He first had to create or bring forth a way of comprehending Himself to what He was about to create. I know that this is a little wild to consider - but I believe in the end, it only causes us to think higher thoughts of God Himself - and to worship Him for Who He is.
Over the next several days we will take a look at the creation of wisdom - and how wisdom was with God as the earth was created. During our look at these 10 verses in Proverbs we will also have cause to consider how the creation itself is actually infused with the wisdom of God as well. Join us . . . it should be quite a journey!
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