Wisdom seen in the Creation

“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so that the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in the human race.” (Proverbs 8:22-31 NIV)

When we consider God’s Creation we tend to think in terms of those physical, tangible things that God made. In Genesis 1 we find what was created on each of the six days when God was creating a place for humans to live. But what about concepts and ideas? Where did these come from? Are they the product of human thinking and reasoning or is there more to them?

Solomon writes of wisdom as the beginning of God’s creative process. That this section is taking about wisdom can be seen by going back to verse 12, where we find ‘‘I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.” One of the first works of God, before he created anything physical, was to establish wisdom – it was there “at the very beginning”. Wisdom was then foundational to all that God would do.

Wisdom was God’s possession before he created anything. Wisdom predates the forming of the earth – before the depths, before there were springs of water, before there were mountains and hills, fields or even dust. We could with accuracy say that “wisdom is older than the hills”!

Wisdom was with God, as he created, like a master workman. When God established the heavens, wisdom was there. When he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds and the fountains of the deep, when he laid the foundations of the earth, wisdom was already there.

Wisdom was God’s daily delight – as God created, wisdom rejoiced! Wisdom rejoiced in the world; wisdom delighted when God created people. Wisdom was God’s constant companion as he was creating.

What can we learn from this description, this personification of wisdom? It helps to explain why we constantly find references to wisdom throughout the first nine chapters of Solomon’s proverbs – the need to take hold of wisdom, to live with wisdom, to have our lives ordered by wisdom. We see in the Creation the power and splendour of God – but these are evidence of what God’s wisdom can do. When we realise this we should be seeking wisdom each day for our lives!

If God’s wisdom can be seen in the original Creation, what does this say about Christians as his “new creation”?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Our lives are new in Jesus – the old life of sin is gone, we now live a new life in Jesus. Does this not show God’s wisdom? In order to make space for a new life we need to get rid of the old, replacing it with the wisdom that characterised Jesus. Our lives now produce fruit from God’s Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). When these are present – and increasing – we become more and more like Jesus.

This is God’s wisdom – he creates a new life out of our old life.

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Readings for next week: Proverbs 8-14