Proverbs 8: 22 -30
Divine Wisdom
The experience of trying to define divine truth is, at the same time, challenge, a frustration and a joy. The writer of the Book of Proverbs invites the reader into a reflection on the place of Wisdom when trying to come to grips with building a description of a bridge between the Creator and the Created.
Wisdom may be interpreted as that part of God that motivates the experience of Creation.
In a collection of poems, entitled “God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse”, the poem “The Creation”, begins with an image of a Creator, whose Southern dialect gives a unique perspective in any consideration of a depiction of the Almighty.
And God stepped out on space,
And he looked around and said
“I’m lonely------
I’ll make me a world.”
The vivid imagery of the poem leads the reader up to a point where God’s experience of being alone is that which is resolved by the creation of a human being into whom God breathes the breath of life. The Wisdom of God is used to identify the challenge of being alone as that which has a solution, which is the experience of Creation.
It may be of interest to note the Book of Proverbs and the resource of J.W. Johnson’s work which I have just shared with you, are both poetic reflections on God and God’s Wisdom at work. Poetry is a wonderful way to try to express the frustration of dealing with the essential elements of being able to relate to God. The poetry of hymnody is another facet of the human struggle to comprehend the Divine.
Years ago, I remember hearing a preacher offer this insight as a reflection on grappling with the mystery of God.
“The totality of God can
never be caught up within
a net of words”.
Recognizing that Divine Wisdom is a Mystery, which lies beyond our potentially arrogant human efforts to constrict, define, and comprehend is, in and of itself, the first step to experience wisdom as a reality in our own lives.
- The Reverend Canon Christopher Pratt
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