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Morning Devotion for the Season of Pentecost
May 20, 2024
Invitatory
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you;
Glory to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Proverbs 3:13-20
Happy are those who find wisdom,
and those who get understanding,
for her income is better than silver,
and her revenue better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honour.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew.
Meditation-Rebecca Northington
I did not know of Lady Wisdom until I was well into my 40’s. It was my second year of grad school when a purple haired, heavily tattooed classmate of mine commented on her fundamental problem with the patriarchal nature of the Bible. She did not know how she was going to reconcile her commitment to Christ with what she perceived to be a misogynistic foundation of Christianity.
The same professor who pointed us towards the female heroines of Esther, Ruth, Hagar, and the Virgin Mary, urged us to look to the very beginning. God was not alone when he created order out of chaos. “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;” and wisdom has a female pronoun. Wisdom Literature was prolific across many traditions at the time Proverbs was written and is a reminder of the intimate relationship between religion and philosophy. What is unique about this particular Wisdom Literature is the female embodiment of wisdom. “Wisdom” has been interpreted as a partner to God, as a Hebrew wife might be towards her husband, or a mother towards her children; ushering them towards goodness and away from folly.
Often we look to scripture to explain things or to direct us. Rowan Williams reminds us that “The people who started working on theological issues in the very early Church didn’t think the Bible just answered all your questions like that, as if it were a sort of spiritual agony aunt where you just put in your question and out came a neat answer. They did work, and they knew that the Bible was quite an untidy set of writings, and that you had to make the connections and pray and think.” In the same lecture Williams spoke of Karl Barth who famously said he read scripture in one hand with “a newspaper in the other hand”. We read scripture to understand God, ourselves, the world, and our place in it. The early church fathers and mothers often spent many hours in silence contemplating scripture; praying over text and waiting for its meaning to emerge. As I read this bit of text and prayed on its meaning today, I am reminded that the female is valued. She is, in fact, primal.
We can find problems with all text, all people, and all places if that is our agenda. Look at the state of our nation both politically and socially. We are polarized by this instinct to validate our grievances by whatever means possible. We need to find someone to blame, but for what? I do not fault my young classmate, for that is the approach our society and culture is cultivating. How am I a victim? How is the Bible denigrating me? In the larger secular world the Bible is accepted as an antiquated text that has been manipulated to enslave and oppress. It is not taught, and therefore is misunderstood. People make judgements in ignorance, and even those who study it struggle with how to explain it; where to begin, where to find the language that can adequately defend God: a mystery eternally unfolding.
When my kids were younger and just beginning to have a sense of their minds as machines and their burgeoning intelligence as weapons; I cautioned them to revere wisdom. Not because I knew her pronoun, but because I believe the road to happiness is paved in humility seeking wisdom:
her income is better than silver,
and her revenue better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honour.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.
I cannot lie - I love that Wisdom is female. And I am not surprised to have learned that secret later in life. It is not God who kept it hidden. When you read looking for hope, joy and grace, you will find it. If you look for sorrow and hurt, you can find that too. I know which one God would choose for us. Seeking wisdom means always leaving room for an absence of knowledge. What is our telos: our purpose? I hope it is always to expand our minds and hearts towards God, with hope and a comfort in saying I do not know. I do not have all of the answers, but with God’s help perhaps, I can learn.
Prayer for Wisdom
Almighty God, I humbly ask that You grant me wisdom to make sound choices and decisions. Open my eyes to see Your truth clearly. Give me spiritual discernment to distinguish right from wrong. Help me not rely solely on my own limited understanding, but trust in Your infinite wisdom to guide my steps. Grant me a heart eager to gain wisdom from Your Word and wise counselors. Let Your wisdom shape my thoughts, words, and actions each day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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