“Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice! On the hilltop along the road, she takes her stand at the crossroads. By the gates at the entrance to the town, on the road leading in, she cries aloud, “I call to you, to all of you! I raise my voice to all people. You simple people, use good judgment. You foolish people, show some understanding. Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception. My advice is wholesome. There is nothing devious or crooked in it. My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge. Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it. “I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine. Because of me, kings reign, and rulers make just decrees. Rulers lead with my help, and nobles make righteous judgments. “I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me. I have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice. My gifts are better than gold, even the purest gold, my wages better than sterling silver! I walk in righteousness, in paths of justice. Those who love me inherit wealth. I will fill their treasuries.”
Proverbs 8:1-21 NLT
Wisdom pursues us. She is not a hidden thing that must be found and revealed to us through a laborious process by which we can ascend. That is myth. It is hurtful legend. She is both wanting and available. She is both kind and generous. In our generation we have bought into the lie that she is a mythical creature wherein she can be attained by vain and arduous pursuits. Our religions hide her behind the close doors of dogma and rhetoric. They hide her behind clever stories and the need for a prophet, guru or mystical teacher to bring enlightenment. They say she is hidden within the veil of the psyche and need only be unlocked. But scripture reveals that she is not within at all. She is outside ourselves, but she is everywhere we turn. She is at the crossroads of our choices. She at the gates of every decision. She is never hidden. She is plain to anyone who wants to see her. We cannot be excused from foolishness and ruin. We cannot bear false witness against her generosity. A wise man knows that his ruin is his own making. It is his own decision to turn from her. He cannot claim he didn’t find her. He can only claim that he didn’t want her.
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