True Wisdom

Amen, everyone.

Father's Day is fast approaching, in case you weren't aware of that,

and haven't made that all-important purchase.

So I'm going to make a recommendation for you here.

It's called, it's a book called

The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

It's a great recommendation.

It's a great book to gather.

It's a book that lists a number of dangerous situations

that you can find yourself in

and how to deal with those dangerous situations.

It's a great blokey book to stick on a bookshelf or something like that.

It's actually a serious book.

These guys are not having a lend to themselves.

They're serious sort of survival trainer kind of guys.

And when I say dangerous situations, I mean dangerous situations.

For instance, page 46.

How, this is full of wisdom, right?

How to fend off a shark.

We all need to know that.

Page 64.

How to deal with a charging bull.

Page 57.

How to wrestle free from an alligator.

Which includes the immortal line.

I love this.

If its jaws are closed on something that you want to remove.

For example, a limb.

Tap it or punch it on the snout.

Now that's really helpful information.

This book, as I said, is totally serious.

It gives you instructions on how to deal with a bunch of worst case scenarios you find yourself in day by day.

Or in most cases, I think none of us find ourselves in those situations.

Such as page 54.

How to escape from a mountain lion.

Apparently, it suggests take your coat off and wave it up really big.

And it makes you look bigger than it is.

And it runs away like a pussycat.

And it goes on and on.

How about this one?

How to leap from a motorbike into a car.

But there's a key footnote.

There's a key footnote to this one.

And it says, remember that in many newer cars, only the front windows roll all the way down.

Key bit of information there.

If you're hoping to get all the way into the car.

Okay.

How about this one?

How to manoeuvre on the top of a train.

And again, a very, very helpful tip in the footnotes.

If a tunnel is approaching, lie down flat quickly.

Like, who hadn't thought of that?

And apparently, it's how to manoeuvre on the top of a train in order to get inside the train.

I find standing at the platform when the doors open the easiest way.

Personally, I'd recommend that.

Or how about this one?

Page 114.

How to land an aeroplane.

And it begins with the rather disconcerting sentence.

If the plane has only got one set of controls, it recommends you push, pull, drag, or carry the pilot out of the pilot seat first.

And then take the controls of the aeroplane.

Really helpful bits of information here.

I can imagine this is great bedtime reading.

This is a sort of wisdom that you want to pass on to your children.

So I'm thinking that it would be great to read to my kids.

And I could just...

And so, you know, how to deliver a baby in a taxi.

There's another one.

How to perform a tracheoctomy.

I could just imagine, you know, my girls, just tell me the tracheoctomy one again.

You know, just in case I might need to know that.

How to do it with a biro.

You can do that with a biro, apparently.

Anyway.

It's all the stuff that you need to survive.

And I've got to suggest that the book deals with situations that most of us will never, ever face.

By contrast, the book of Proverbs, which we're launching into for the next 10 weeks,

deals with things that we face every single day.

It's a book that is full of wisdom for living.

So if you're going to make it through life without making a total mess of it, we need wisdom.

That's what Proverbs is saying.

And every one of us, in fact, will make a mess of life if we don't find and we don't grow in wisdom.

That is, if we don't...

We can have love, but not wisdom.

And if we do have love, but not wisdom, we will harm people with the very best of intentions.

If we have courage, but not wisdom,

we will blunder boldly.

Such as jumping from a motorbike into the front window of a car.

You know, it takes wisdom not to do that sort of thing.

If you have technology, but not wisdom,

you will use the very best of ever communications ever invented

in order to broadcast stupidity.

If you have biblical truth, but not wisdom,

we will make the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus look ugly to people.

If you have revival in the church, but not wisdom,

you will use the power of God to put the church in reverse gear.

Wisdom is essential.

And so I would recommend the complete worst case scenario survival book for a laugh.

And I would also recommend it if you're planning on camping beside the East Gallagher River

sometime in the near future.

But Proverbs deserves our endless attention.

The great Billy Graham used to read a proverb a day every month.

Every month he'd read through the whole book of Proverbs.

And he did that for years and years and years

because he wanted to grow in wisdom.

So I think it deserves our endless attention.

And yet for most case, for most Christians,

what we tend to do with the book of Proverbs is we dive in

and we grab one proverb here, a proverb there, a proverb there,

our particular favourite proverbs.

And we pin everything on those.

We actually look at the whole book

and investigate what the entirety of wisdom is saying.

T.S. Eliot spoke to our times, I think,

when he asked these three questions.

He said, where is the life that we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom that we have lost in knowledge?

And where is the knowledge that we have lost in information?

Just sound bites of information.

That's the way we operate at the moment.

We get on our phones, we look at Wikipedia

and just particles of information floating across us.

And I think what we need is we need Proverbs to counsel us

in how to live well.

And that's what's at stake here.

It's not just about surviving and it's not just about dying,

but in fact about how do we live and how do we live well.

That's what Proverbs is about.

This book works well, I believe, when we slow down

and we think and we listen and we journal and we pray.

I think we need to do that.

It's time to get off the information high,

Googling stuff all the time,

and just to pick up the Bible, go deep and grow in wisdom.

That's what we're seeking to do in the next 10 weeks

and hopefully beyond this.

So let's first of all, Proverbs chapter 8 just read out to us.

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

In verses 10 to 11, it reveals for us the importance of wisdom.

It says,

Choose my instruction instead of silver,

knowledge rather than choice gold,

for wisdom is more precious than rubies

and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Notice the progression.

Wisdom is speaking and wisdom says,

I am more important than silver.

Then it progresses and says,

I'm more important than gold.

And then it says, I am more important than rubies.

And then finally, wisdom gets down to being greater than anything

than you could ever possibly desire.

That's a pretty high call.

Wisdom is infinitely more important

than all the wealth and the fame and the power in the world.

Far more important than the greatest of circumstances in this world

where you've got all the wealth and the power

and the influence and the beauty and everything else.

Far greater than having all the greatest circumstances in the world

is in fact the ability to handle and to grow

and to flourish whatever life circumstances are.

And why is that important?

Because only a tiny, tiny minority of people

in fact get their life circumstances

where they actually want them to be.

And absolutely no one ever keeps them there.

No one.

Not a single person.

Wisdom is infinitely more important.

There are plenty of people in this world

who have got talent and wealth and intellect

and charisma and credentials and beauty

and their lives have unraveled

and there are people who have got very little

of all of those things

and in fact they have lived life very, very well

and the difference is wisdom.

Wisdom is not the same as moral goodness.

It's related to it but it's not identical to it.

It's obvious that to be unethical is stupid in the long run.

Wisdom is not being less than ethical

but it is far more than just being ethical.

For example, it is good and right to help a person

from a position of poverty, to help them out of their poverty.

It's noble, it's good, it's right

and you can do that completely, totally ethically

and still completely screw up their life at the same time.

That is, you can do it with a lack of wisdom.

If you do not understand all the complexities

that are associated as to why people might be in poverty

you can screw it up.

See, it's not even good enough to be people

of high principles and morals.

We need to be people of wisdom

or we will ruin our lives and the lives of other people.

We need wisdom so much.

You know, to make a bunch of decisions in this world

it is, all you basically need is knowledge.

That is, with the right knowledge

you can pick the right car.

It's a Toyota Prado.

You know, it's straightforward.

With the right sort of knowledge

you can, you know, get the right medication.

You can build a bridge.

You can fill out the form correctly.

But what about the decisions that we face every day

across all of our lives

such as, who should I marry?

Who should I date?

Who, you know, should I, in fact, break up?

What career should I go into?

What school should I enroll into?

Should I buy this house?

Should I move to that house?

Where do I live?

What church do I go to?

Should I change jobs?

Should I confront the person right now

or should I just hold back a little bit?

Should I take that risk or just play it safe?

That's the multitude of decisions

that we make every day.

And the rules don't apply.

There's no rules that says

that person is the person you should marry.

And a wrong decision in some or any of those things

can be a real disaster.

And the moral rules don't cover them.

They might give you a broad framework,

but they don't cover the specifics.

And knowledge and facts and principles aren't enough.

I'd go as far as to saying

that the reason why so many of us

are so stuck and anxious and stressed

is because we don't have the wisdom

that we need to deal with the situations

we're currently facing.

It's not just a matter of knowledge.

It's not a matter of IQ or moral principles.

It's a matter of wisdom.

And we are perishing for the lack of wisdom.

It's more important than silver,

more important than gold and jewels,

more important than anything you could possibly imagine.

So what is it?

Verses 8 to 16, we have wisdom speaking again.

And we get a few clues as to what wisdom is here.

It says,

I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence.

I possess knowledge and discretion.

To fear the Lord is to hate evil.

I hate pride and arrogance,

evil behaviour and perverse speech.

Counsel and sound judgment are mine.

I have insight, I have power.

By me, kings reign and rulers,

issues, decrees that are just.

By me, princes, governors, nobles,

all who rule on earth.

So there are at least three things here

that wisdom speaks about

and gives us an idea of what wisdom is.

Notice firstly that wisdom has insight in verse 14.

The word insight there is translated from a Hebrew word

which basically means to know how things really are.

It's understanding of how things really are.

Secondly, it also says that wisdom dwells with prudence.

That's not an old-fashioned girl's name.

In verse 12, so it's not,

she's hanging out with prudence,

wisdom's with prudence.

It's actually not probably the best English translation.

A better translation is the word shrewdness.

Shrewdness, not prudence.

Shrewdness here,

we often regard it as a negative thing,

but here shrewdness is positive.

It's not scheming and plotting.

It's a resourceful cunningness about life.

Wisdom here is knowing how things not just are,

but how life works,

how things happen in life.

And thirdly, verse 15, it says,

by me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just.

So wisdom is not just about how things are

and how things actually work,

but it's knowing what to do about it.

It's very practical.

So wisdom is very, very practical.

It's not just theoretical.

Think of the difference

between the great English detective Sherlock Holmes

and his sidekick, Dr. Watson.

A client would walk into Holmes' apartment

in 221B Baker Street,

and he could...

Holmes would take one look at the person

and know 19 things about them,

just like that.

And he'd always say to Watson,

it's elementary, elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.

And Dr. Watson would see the same person

but not have the same insight or the same shrewdness.

The not obvious, the non-obvious,

was obvious to Holmes,

whereas it wasn't so much to Watson.

Holmes sees clues.

Watson sees a blur.

Holmes sees distinctions.

Just had more clarity.

So what is wisdom?

Gerhard von Rad,

a 20th century German theologian,

you have to be German to have a name like that,

wrote a book called Wisdom in Israel,

and it's a pretty hard, difficult book,

so you just read the conclusion,

that gives you the answer.

And in it,

he gives a definition of wisdom

according to Proverbs.

And it's a great definition.

He says,

wisdom is becoming competent

with regard to the realities of life.

I love the word becoming.

It's saying there that wisdom

is something that you grow in.

It's becoming competent

with regard to the realities of life.

It's knowing how things really happen,

how things really are,

and knowing what to do about them.

So it's intensely practical.

It's not theoretical.

Kind of ironic,

me doing a sermon like this.

It is the art of being successful

across all of life.

It's knowing how life works

and living it well.

And wisdom finds its seat,

its centre,

not in the mind,

but in the centre of the being,

what the Bible calls

the heart of the individual,

the soul of the individual,

which incorporates the intellect

and everything else,

it's the centre of,

the heart of the person

is the centre of the person's

moral and intellectual decision-making.

But there's this huge problem

in gaining wisdom.

The problem is highlighted

in verses 22 onwards.

And here we have wisdom speaking.

And wisdom says,

I was there

when this world was made.

That's the bottom line.

So let me have a read through here.

It says,

The Lord brought me forth

as the first of his works

before his deeds of old.

I was formed long ago,

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 the 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 the waters

would not overstep its command,

when he marked out

the foundations of the earth,

then I was constantly at his side.

I was filled with delight

day by day,

rejoicing always in his presence,

rejoicing in his whole world

and delighting in mankind.

And so what we have here

in Proverbs 8

is wisdom being there

as God creates

the created order,

brings everything into being.

And the creation account here

is a unique creation account.

You see,

most ancient societies

either regarded the creation

of the material world

as an accident

of the gods,

it's like they lend against something

and the universe is made,

that was a bit of a mistake,

didn't mean that to happen.

Or it's a result

of the gods having a battle

and they create the world

for some strange reason.

And here it says

the creation account

is based on the wisdom of God.

It was deliberate.

There's a sense here

of this overwhelming joy

where God designed the world

to be a place of beauty

and power and order

and joy and peace.

God made the world

with wisdom.

And that's why

the wise of Israel

said that wisdom worked.

Because it aligned,

wisdom is just simply

being aligned

with the wisdom of God

in creation.

That's why it works.

If God created the world

according to wisdom,

then there is a pattern

to all that he's made.

It's connected.

That is,

reality's not random.

And if wisdom made the world,

then wisdom can be perceived.

And to a great degree,

can be lived in accordance with.

Now, it's obvious for most people

that there are physical patterns

patterns

in the reality

of our physical world.

There are patterns there,

such as

the pattern

of aerodynamics.

If an object

fits with the pattern

and the rules

of aerodynamics,

it will fly.

If it doesn't fit

with the pattern

of aerodynamics,

it won't fly.

Such as

falling off a ladder.

You won't fly.

You will crash and burn.

If you disregard

the patterns

of aerodynamics,

you will crash and burn.

And the wise of Israel

also concluded

that there is

a relational fabric

to reality

that if you don't follow

those patterns,

you will relationally

crash and burn.

And they also

concluded

that there is

a spiritual fabric

to the created order

that God has made.

And if you don't follow

those spiritual patterns,

you spiritually

will crash and burn too.

That's the wisdom

of Israel.

That's what we see

in Proverbs.

And so what

foolishness is,

is going against

the grain,

going against

the weave,

going against

the pattern,

going against

the structure

that God

has put in place

in his created order

that he made

with wisdom.

It's going against

wisdom.

That's what foolishness

is.

But,

and here's the problem

in gaining wisdom,

there are two things

that you must know

about these patterns

in order to be wise.

And you must hold

both of these things

together equally.

Equal weight.

Firstly,

you have to see

and admit

that there is

a pattern.

God has made

the world

and there is

a pattern to it.

There are principles

in life

which customarily

work.

Secondly,

you've got to see

and know

that you cannot

see

the entire

pattern.

You can't see

the entire

pattern.

much of the pattern

is in fact

hidden from us.

And that's the problem

of gaining wisdom.

For instance,

in chapters

10 to 15

of Proverbs,

you get

Proverbs

about the principles

of how life

normally works.

And they say

things like,

if you work hard,

you'll prosper.

If you're lazy,

you'll be poor.

If you

raise a child

in the right way,

they will love you

when they get older.

And if you read

those chapters

with a

conservative,

moralistic

bent,

and you believe

that there is

order,

you believe

there's a pattern

in the created

life,

you will say

things like,

yeah,

that's right,

I knew there was

a rule for everything.

There's a rule

for everything.

And then you get

to chapter 16.

And you get

to chapter 16

and suddenly

there are exceptions

to the principles

of how life

normally works.

For instance,

some people

who live

according to

God's moral

absolutes

have a fairly

lousy life.

Some people

who work hard

but stay poor

because of oppression.

And some people

raise their child

right but they

go off the rails

at some point

in life.

And so if you

read that

section

with a

liberal bent,

that is you

don't believe

that there's

an order

that you

need to

abide by,

you go,

yeah,

that's right,

life's messy,

always said it

was messy,

can't predict

anything.

And yet wisdom

is holding

the both

together.

It's a matter,

it's admitting

that there is

a pattern

that I must

submit to

and that I

can't make up

the rules

for myself.

I don't

define reality

for myself.

But if I

live like that

then Proverbs

says I'm a fool.

But wisdom

is also

acknowledging

that I can't

see the whole

pattern.

There are

hidden things.

And if I

think that I

can see all

the pattern

and if I

think I

know how

all of life

works

then I'm

a fool

according to

Proverbs.

So you

can be a

conservative

fool or

you can be

a liberal

fool.

You can be

a moralistic

fool, you

can be a

relativistic

fool.

We are

all one

or the

other depending

on our

ideology and

our personality

I suspect.

So in a

nutshell if

you're a

person who

thinks that

if you have

a good

life, live

a good

life, it

will go

well for

you, then

you are a

conservative

fool.

But if

you're the

kind of

person who

says I

can decide

my own

reality, I

can decide

what is

right and

wrong for

me and I

don't believe

there's any

divine order

that I have

to submit

to, then

you're a

liberal

fool.

And we're

all fools

one way or

another.

Let's just

close the

sermon there.

No, we'll

keep going.

We're all

fools one way

or another.

And we as

a society

are split on

this.

We are pushing

each other

more and more

into areas

of foolishness.

The same

sex marriage

debate is a

classic example

of this.

Church goes

all moralistic

and over

here the

liberals go

whatever.

It's all

relative,

there's no

order.

And we're

pushing ourselves

more and more

into foolishness.

So what's

the solution?

There is a

solution.

Did you

notice that as

chapter 8 was

read out to

us that

wisdom is

personified?

Wisdom is

I, me,

my.

You see that

right through

chapter 8.

Wisdom is not

an abstract

quality but in

fact a

person.

That's how

wisdom is

perceived in

Proverbs.

And as

hopefully we've

seen in the

introductory video

which we saw

last week and

hopefully you've

seen it throughout

the course of

this week,

wisdom in that

little video as

it is in

Proverbs is

depicted as a

woman.

A woman in

fact who

calls, lady

wisdom who

calls, calls,

calls.

And interestingly

enough that the

Proverbs were

originally a

manual, a

wisdom manual for

the young men

of Israel

which is why

most of the

Proverbs are

addressed to

my son.

They were

four.

They were a

wisdom manual for

the old men of

Israel training the

younger men in

Israel and so

you want to get

their attention?

Make wisdom a

woman.

You know, who's

calling you?

Of course their

attention is there

all the way

through.

So wisdom

here is not so

much a matter of

mastering a bunch

of rules and

principles.

wisdom is in

fact a love

affair in

Proverbs.

It's a love

affair.

We need to

long for

wisdom.

We need to

love wisdom.

We need to

pursue wisdom.

But what if

wisdom in

fact was a

person?

What if you

got into a

relationship with

this person and

they made you

wise?

They helped

you to see a

pattern to the

world and they

helped you to

see your

limitations that

you don't know

the entire

pattern of the

world and so

they called you

to trust them

because they knew

the entire

pattern of the

world.

What if this

person made you

competent with

regard to the

realities of

life?

Helped you to

know how

things actually

are, how

things actually

work and what

to do about it?

This at least

means that those

of us who have

never had wise

parents, never

had wise

counsellors, never

had wise guides,

never had the

wise mentors,

would have

someone who

could make us

wise even if

we were into

our 80s and

90s.

It's not too

late.

The wisdom

train had

left and you

weren't on it

but it's not

too late.

What if there

was still a

chance to get

on the wisdom

train because

wisdom was a

person who you

could have a

relationship with,

someone like a

wonderful counsellor?

What's

interesting is

there's a lot

of other

wisdom literature

in ancient

Israel apart

from what we

have here in

Proverbs and

in the rest of

the Bible.

Another piece

of wisdom

literature in

ancient Israel

is called the

wisdom of the

son of Syriac

and in it

there's this

interesting call

and challenge.

The son of

Syriac says

this,

turn unto me

you who are

untaught,

why do you

say you are

lacking in

these things?

Why are

your souls so

thirsty?

I say to

you find

wisdom,

put your

necks under

its yoke and

bear its

burden.

If you are

intent you

can find

wisdom,

see with

your eyes

that I

have laboured

for it and

I have found

for my soul

much rest.

Now that

is a typical

invitation to

pursue wisdom

in ancient

Israel but

can you imagine

the listener

who,

how they

would have

responded a

couple of

centuries later

when a

rabbi and

a teacher and

a wise man

got up and

said these

words,

come to me,

come to me,

come to me,

come to me,

all who are

weary and

burdened and

I will give

you rest.

Take my yoke

upon you and

learn from me

for I am

gentle and

humble in

heart and

you will find

rest for your

souls.

for my

yoke is

easy and

my burden

is light.

Similar

statements.

In fact,

most biblical

scholars think

Jesus was

actually quoting

the son of

Syriac.

The son of

Syriac says

put your head

into the yoke

of discipline

and training

and you

work hard,

you work hard,

you work hard,

you work hard

and you pursue

wisdom and

you will get

rest for your

souls.

And Jesus

says come to

me,

come to me,

take my

yoke upon

you,

learn of

me and

I will

give you

rest for

your souls.

You see,

what Jesus

is saying

there in

that moment

and Israel

would have

realised this

in that

moment is

that Jesus

is saying

I am

wisdom.

I am

wisdom

personified.

Wisdom

is not a

body of

knowledge that

needs to be

mastered,

it's not a

body of

principles to

be memorised,

it is

knowing Jesus,

coming to

Jesus.

That's where

wisdom begins.

And that's

what John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

affirms too.

There are

so many

parallels between

Proverbs

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8

and John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

and this is

how John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

starts,

it says

in the

beginning

was the

word.

Now the

word there

is translated

from the

Greek word

logos which

has massive

connotations for

wisdom attached

to it.

So without

too much

paraphrasing,

you could

read it like

this,

in the

beginning was

the wisdom

and the

wisdom was

with God

and the

wisdom was

God,

he was

with God

in the

beginning

and through

him,

that is

through the

wisdom,

all things

were made.

Without

him nothing

was made

that has

been made,

in him

was life

and the

life was

the light

of all

mankind.

Then down

into verse

14,

the wisdom

became flesh

and made

his dwelling

among us

and we have

seen his

glory,

the glory

of the

one and

only Son

who came

from the

Father full

of grace

and truth.

John is

telling us

here what

the secret

of wisdom

is.

John reveals

that Jesus

is the

wisdom of

God to

us.

He is the

wisdom of

God on

display.

So those

of us who

are potentially

even gathered

here now

waiting for

an airtight

argument about

God before

they would

believe in

God,

I think you

need to be

encouraged just

to think again

a little bit.

When Jesus

says I am the

wisdom of

God to

you, he

is saying

that he is

the ultimate

argument for

the existence

of God.

What if God

did not send

an airtight

argument but

he sent an

airtight

person?

What this

means is

that it

doesn't matter

who you

are or

where you

are in

your faith

journey or

how much

you or

how little

you believe

or whether

you believe

nothing at

all,

sit down

with a

group of

people and

go through

the life

of Jesus.

Read about

him, work

through his

life, his

teaching, his

accomplishments and

his promises and

you will be

shocked because

it will be the

first time in

your life that

you've ever met

someone who's

perfect.

No one, no

wise person ever

makes a guy like

Jesus up.

He is the

ultimate argument

for the

existence of

God in the

form of a

person.

He is

wisdom

personified but

he is also

the wisdom

of God

for us.

Jesus is like

in many ways

like a whole

heap of

wise guys that

came before

him and after

him and they

all say he is

the wise way

to live.

Jesus did

that like a

bunch of

other guys

did but no

other wise

person in the

history of the

world apart

from Jesus ever

said but I've

come to live

that wise life

for you.

No one's ever

done that.

Otherwise people

say this is how

you should live

do it and you

will live well

and you will

flourish.

Jesus is the

only one who

says this is how

you should live

but I've lived

it the way you

should have lived

and not only

lived the life

you should have

lived I've

actually died the

death you should

have died because

of your failure

to live the

way you should

have lived

because of

your foolishness

and that's

why Jesus

says here my

yoke is the

only yoke which

is light my

burden is the

only easy

one and

what's more

Jesus is the

wisdom of God

with us in a

very confusing

world where the

patterns don't

always make

sense.

and they

don't always

make sense.

They're the

source of great

anxiety for us

in life when

the patterns

don't work the

way that we

think they're

going to work

and we think

in those moments

that God's

abandoned us

he's got no

idea what he's

doing but

Jesus is wisdom

of God with

us because the

tragedy and the

injustice of Jesus

dying on the

cross followed

by the triumph

and the

victory of

the resurrection

is the

clarity and

it's the

ultimate example

and the most

brilliant clarity

of how even

though we can't

see that there's

wisdom at play

wisdom is in

fact at work

in and through

the same event

that's the

wisdom of God

the death and

resurrection of

Jesus the

wisdom of God

on full display

knowing that

even though it

doesn't look

right God's

at work and

the patterns are

in play and

this is the

wisdom of God

and Jesus calls

us to it and

so as we begin

these ten weeks

in Proverbs

hear the call of

Jesus on your

life come to

me come to

me come to

me all who are

weary and

burdened and I

will give you

rest take my

yoke upon upon

you and you

learn from me

for I am gentle

and I am humble

in heart and

you will find

rest for your

souls for my

yoke is easy

and my burden

is light

numbers

for you and I

and I have