Proverbs 1:20 – Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

Proverbs 1:21 – She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

Proverbs 1:22 – How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Hello readers, today we will be looking at wisdom. Today we will be going to Proverbs, many people know that as the “wisdom” book. And it is full of wisdom, just as the entire Bible is wisdom, and given for our wisdom. God’s word is wisdom, because what could be wiser than hearing from the Creator, the Judge, the King. God gave us his word so we could be wise. So we can be wise unto salvation, so we can be wise unto forgiveness, so we can be wise in the context of eternity… not just wisdom for this life, but wisdom that prepares us for the world to come. You cannot read Proverbs and miss wisdom as it is it’s key theme, yet you can read Proverbs just like the whole Bible and get no wisdom. It’s not enough to read the Bible, it must be believed on personally and appropriated by the reader by faith in his/her heart. Many people read the Bible but reject it, they use it in an attempt to justify their sin or poke holes in God’s character and dealings with man, but they never got the wisdom from it that was freely extended to them. Such a shame to have the book of life at our fingertips yet reject it. People prefer their wisdom, which gets them nowhere in the end. I talk to people regularly who have so much worldly wisdom, yet none of it is God’s wisdom… and it gets them nowhere, and can never and will never get them anywhere.

Wisdom isn’t hidden from you, God wants you to have wisdom. We can often think God conceals from us. One of Satan’s biggest tactics was to get Eve to doubt the goodness and grace of God. To question not just God’s word, but God’s motive, God’s character, God’s intentions. God wants us to know things… he doesn’t hide the truth from us. Satan is a liar, he lies to his own. Remember Pharaoh in Egypt, who is a picture of Satan… he got all his people killed, Satan doesn’t look after his own, he uses and abuses them and at the end the floor drops out from beneath them into hell. So Proverbs is written as it says to know wisdom and to receive the instruction of wisdom. Instruction from God is wisdom for our lives, what can be wiser than obeying what God says for us to do… which we can find in his word. In a similar fashion, wisdom starts with the fear of God. How does this even make sense? Well if you fear God it will cause you to do some things which are wise. Imagine not wanting to go to hell and believing on Jesus Christ who came to earth and died so you didn’t have to go there. That’d be wise. Imagine fearing a God who is so much higher, so much smarter, so beyond our finite minds, who is a consuming fire, who’s voice will shake not only earth but the heavens. That might make us do things that are wise… like depart from evil, like stopping sinning, like looking to Jesus Christ for mercy and grace and forgiveness. Noah was moved with fear the Bible said… and he built an ark to the saving of his house. That sounds pretty wise. He was prepared for the future.

There’s some very interesting verses which I just couldn’t conceive for ages in Proverbs 1:20-22… Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:  She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Reader, you see today wisdom is crying unto you today, and unto everyone on the face of the earth. In the streets she cries to men and women, boys and girls today. But who has an ear to hear her cry? If you can’t hear wisdom, maybe you need to ask God to help you hear her. Look at your own life, look at the world, look at what’s gone, and what is, and what’s coming… and you can see wisdom crying unto you in every area of life. Look at how your life is full of sin, full of failure, full of death… look how the ways of man fail, look at how vain life’s selfish pursuits are, look at how horrible people are. Surely wisdom’s voice has a place in your heart. But wisdom although physically you may not see her calling, if you have spiritual ears, you will hear her. Many are spiritually deaf to her though. Think of how silly these world’s ways are. People do so many things which are so foolish, so stupid, because they ignore her voice, they have no ear to her cry. They commit adultery, they drink themselves silly, they dabble in drugs, they gossip, they slander, they envy, they rage, they consume and devour each other. As Proverbs 1:23 says… Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. To get wisdom, you need to receive it from God, and it comes as a result of his Spirit working in your life, ministering the wisdom of God to you. Wisdom is spiritual.

You may see that there are many wise people in the world, yet really they are so foolish. They prosper here, they build riches, they pursue and obtain many pleasures… yet they die and go to hell. They are good at making money, they are kings at manipulating others… yet they neglect their eternal soul. There are many shrewd, cunning, smart, intellectual people out there… but they are fools when they die and go to a Christless eternity. 1 Corinthians 3:19 – For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. So you see the worldly wise aren’t actually that wise, in thinking they’re so wise, they actually outsmart themselves only. There is a phrase in Proverbs 1 “they lurk privily for their own lives.” You may be a worldly wise person, but you’re actually just making your own bed in hell. Wisdom comes from God alone, so going it without God is ultimate foolishness. Your own way, try though you may, is just your own way… but Jesus said he IS THE way. It’ll take humility to get wisdom. We don’t have it… it’s not in us. There is a wonderful verse in Colossians because it is a liberating truth. It’s okay not to know everything, because the Bible says of Jesus Christ… Colossians 2:3 – In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It is no wonder Proverbs 2 commands us to incline our ear unto wisdom. Wisdom comes from God, so when we look to God, that’s when we get some wisdom. It’s okay not to have it, in fact the Bible says if you recognize you don’t got it, ask God for it, who giveth it liberally and upbraideth not. God gives you wisdom free of charge. Most people aren’t’ willing to see how spiritually bankrupt they are, God wants us to see that we have nothing, and he will supply for free what we don’t have.

Proverbs 2:6 – For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Wisdom comes from God, because he has wisdom. The real problem isn’t you can’t have it, or can’t get it, the main problem with getting us to actually want it, to getting us to see that we need it. Like all things with God, just like salvation, it’s not we can’t be saved, because anyone can be forgiven and saved, it’s because people don’t have an appetite for it. Look at Esau, he had an appetite for his fleshly belly, but had no appetite for spiritual things. Most people, their god is their belly… their fleshly desires and nature rule them, that’s what they feed. They don’t want wisdom, her pure voice calling to them, crying unto them, being a spoil sport, they’d rather the strange woman and her bed than the exhortation to holiness and purity and God mindedness that wisdom has. Proverbs 2:10 – When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul… does wisdom have a place to enter your heart? Or is your heart already filled by Satan? Satan can put things in there like he did with Judas Iscariot that  consume us. Is wisdom pleasant to your soul? Or would you prefer the allure of the foolish woman… Proverbs 9:17,18 – Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell. All through Proverbs you see two themes… because there are two kingdoms, there is Jesus Christ or there is the devil, and even if you don’t know the devil is your master yet, if you’re not saved… he is, rest assured. There is no third option. Wisdom or foolishness, life or death, forgiveness or unforgiven, Jesus or Satan? What is pleasant to you, what pleases you, what has your heart been given to. Peter said to Ananias … why hath Satan filled thine heart?

Proverbs 3:13 – Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. True happiness is found in finding Jesus Christ, in coming to God, and hearing from him, and obeying him. You won’t think that it is happiness, but it is. It seems like the wicked have all the fun. They get to sleep around, do drugs, be cool, live life, enjoy everything, prosper… but life is longer than one day, and they’re not truly happy, and definitely not eternally happy. Hell is a place of torments… not happiness. They will be tormented by neglecting their own salvation, by forsaking their own mercy, by rejecting Jesus Christ. True happiness comes from finding wisdom. Finding Jesus Christ is finding wisdom. And once you’ve found wisdom, the Bible says in Proverbs 3:21 – My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion. KEEP wisdom if you’ve found it. Because Satan is coming for it. Because you will be challenged when your faith is tested to let it go, to throw it away, to instead hop in bed with a strange woman than heed the virtuous woman’s cry. The strange woman seems to offer more, fun, excitement… and the lies of the devil do that, and a life devoted to the devil can seem pleasurable, it can have many allurements, and it is very seductive, but it’s not worth it. Read Proverbs and you will see that. Many people commit adultery, it seemed fun at the time, the temptation was great, the excitement intoxicating… yet it destroyed their marriage, it ruined their name irreparably, it blew up their chances of a true, happy, lasting relationship with a spouse built on trust and commitment. It destroyed their own soul.

It is worth it to get wisdom… Proverbs 4:5 – Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. She’s calling unto you today. God’s Holy Spirit is moving, moving upon the deep waters of your heart, but will you hear the word of God, will you heed wisdom, will you love it, will you keep it? The problem isn’t you can’t have wisdom. Wisdom is so very important to life, read through Proverbs and you’ll see how wisdom will guide you, preserve you, keep you. Remember Potiphar’s wife, she was seductive and sweet to Joseph… but when he rejected her, she turned on him like a vicious attack dog. You see, wisdom won’t turn on you, won’t betray you, won’t let you down. If you choose to hear God, to read his word and lay it to heart, to get saved, to repent of your sins and turn to Jesus Christ… that won’t ever let you down. Jesus’ water never runs dry. But you can go your own way, you can go the way of the world, the way of the strange woman… but it will let you down, it will betray you, it will burn your life out, it will make ashes of your soul and existence … just as quickly as Potiphar’s wife turned from lovey dovey to lying on Joseph and getting him cast into prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

God offers you wisdom for free… why do you need it? Do you need her? Should she even bother calling to you? The Bible says the Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth. God made you in his image, and although marred by sin, you have choices before you, which you cannot wash your hands of, you make decisions every day, for which you will reap from, and which you will be accountable to God for. Your choices, how you live your life, why you live your life, life which you have been given relies upon wisdom. Because wisdom will dictate how you live your life, what you do and don’t do, who and what you believe. So you need wisdom to make the right decisions. And the right decision is to believe God, to trust him and obey him. Proverbs 4:11 – I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. God will teach you, just pray to him, ask him, he gives wisdom freely, he will pour his spirit upon a repentant, broken, believing heart. God extends wisdom to you today, and wisdom cries in the streets, she’s calling to you today, pleading with you to get right with God, to turn from your wicked way, to turn to God… but will you hear, will you heed her cry today? When wisdom cries out to you… she’s calling today… how long, how long will you continue in sin, will you waste your life, how long will you walk the tightrope over hell? Jesus came to save you from your sins, and his Spirit strives with man, but won’t strive forever… wisdom calls to you today, right where you are and no matter where you are it in life, hear her voice.

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