Proverbs 8:12 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 8:12

Comments

Here is the house of the mind. It is only if wisdom is there that prudence will be there. If the wisdom of God lives in your mind and you have spiritual insight, then other things will live in your mind also The Hebrew word literally means trickery or cunning but here, of course, in a good sense. If the things of God dwell in your mind, then trickery and cunning will also dwell there, in the best sense of the term. Solomon means that you will really be able to plan wisely. You will have an ability, a facility, for setting up your life. In other words, you will have the ability to make a policy which works. If you don't have spiritual wisdom, all your plans will go wrong. They may get you wealth, they may get you fame, but they will not get you deep satisfaction and spiritual success. To make a policy which is successful, to foresee all that may go wrong, to make a good marriage and to bring up your children successfully, and to steer your way through all the pitfalls of life, you have got to have wisdom living in your mind. And it overcomes death in the last hour. You have got spiritual wisdom, even if you are afraid. It is a tremendous light through the valley of the shadow of death, and it leads you to glory. To have a mind which has the capacity of prudence, you must have wisdom first. That is what Solomon means. What a beautiful way he expresses it. ‘I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions’ – a very old-fashioned phrase in our Authorised Version, which literally means 'smart and clever schemes'.

Application

This wisdom informs me about the spiritual context of my life. Nothing else but God’s word can do that. Rubies will not tell me anything about the spiritual context and meaning of life. Riches cannot save the soul. You go to the grave as the richest man or woman in the world, unconverted and you might as well have nothing. The experience of having to leave all behind tells you how worthless it all was. But wisdom understands all things, sees through what is going on in the world, understands human depravity, can explain why things are as they are in the nations and among the people. Science cannot explain that. It can explain wonderful things on earth, wonderful things concerning this material universe, but not the great mysteries of life.

Wisdom can change our behaviour. It can challenge us, give us the advice and the correction that we need to conquer our lusts by the help of God. If Christians could only see themselves as the people they were before conversion, one, five, thirty years ago, they would be amazed at the difference.

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Proverbs 8:12 Commentary and Bible Study