Proverbs 8:22

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

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How wonderful is wisdom? The LORD God had it all in eternity! Solomon continued his lengthy personification of wisdom as a virtuous woman (Pr 8:1 – 9:5). Lady Wisdom is the first person, singular, objective pronoun “me.” Before the LORD Jehovah created anything, when He inhabited eternity alone, He owned all the wisdom of the universe.

At this point in personifying wisdom, Solomon should provoke you to value wisdom most highly by virtue of God’s choice and use of it from eternity and in the creation of all things (Pr 8:22-31). If wisdom is so gloriously advantageous and wonderful that Jehovah Himself chose and used it, how much more should men esteem it? This is the lesson!

What is personification? It is a figure of speech in which a person is used to represent an abstract concept. Men refer to freedom as Lady Liberty, natural events as Mother Nature, national defense as Uncle Sam, and aging as Father Time. King Solomon used a desirable lady to represent the concept of wisdom (Pr 1:20-33; 2:4; 3:15-18; 4:5-13; 8:1-36; 9:1-5).

What is wisdom? It is the power of right judgment. It is the ability to discern any matter or situation and know the perfect solution. When understood as a spiritual virtue of God and Christians, its analysis and solutions always maximize the glory of God and His holiness. Wisdom is the disciplined thinking that always arrives at righteous conclusions.

Who is the LORD? When the King James Bible uses LORD in capital letters, it means Jehovah – I AM THAT I AM. This infinite and independent Spirit, Creator of all, eternally possessed all wisdom. He owes no one for it, for who has been His counselor (Rom 11:33-36)? He alone is the origin and source of wisdom for Himself or any other.

Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Son by Mary, grew in wisdom as He matured (Luke 2:52). Such words speak distinctly and only of His human nature. In His divine nature, He is Jehovah Himself, in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3). If you desire to be like Jesus Christ, then you should be growing in wisdom. Are you?

God did not experiment, using trial and error, when He created. He had infinite wisdom before He created. Everything was very good (Gen 1:31). He sees the past, present, and future equally. There are no contingencies to Him. He understands everything forever. There are no surprises to Him, no difficulties, no perplexities, and no complexities.

Pagan gods or idols do not have even the five natural senses, let alone wisdom, and the God of the Bible ridicules them for such a fatal handicap (Ps 115:1-8; 135:1-21). Their worshippers may have five senses, but God ridicules them as equally ignorant to the totem poles and other images and statues they worship in their lying folly (Is 44:18-20).

If Jehovah God chose to possess all wisdom in eternity for His actions, are you pursuing wisdom with great zeal for your choices (Pr 4:7; 16:16)? It is surely worth the effort (Pr 8:11; Job 28:12-19). Inspired and preserved Scripture and His teachers are God’s gifts of wisdom to you before all men (Deut 4:6; Ps 119:98-100; Mal 2:7; II Tim 3:15-17).