Seeking Wisdom

Chapter 8 of the Book of Proverbs and
Chapters 7 and 8 of the Book of Wisdom and
Chapter 24 of the Book of Sirach

all speak of Wisdom --
and
should be read together by One Who Seeks Wisdom.

....followed by John chapter 4 and John chapter 7.

There we have it -- the beauty and benefit of Divine Wisdom and the means to obtain it.

In the Garden of Eden, God gave man the choice:  seek Wisdom or live by Knowledge/ Experience.

We usually seek the Tree of (first-hand) Knowledge/ Experience: "I'll believe when I have tasted the fruit for myself."  And the fruit turns bitter in our mouth, like cold ashes on our tongue.

Proverbs 3:18 says that Wisdom is a "tree of life to those who find her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed."  Reading the aforementioned passages on wisdom will spell out the blessings of wisdom and make the reader hungry and thirsty to eat her fruit.  And then, we ask, "How do we acquire this precious fruit of the Tree of Life?"

And the answer belongs to the Giver of Wisdom:  Jesus tells the woman at the well......Ask Me, and I will give you a spring welling up to eternal life!  A spring continues to flow; it does not run dry.  One comes freely to quench one's thirst -- without fear that the spring has dried up.  But Sirach 24 tells us that as we drink and "divert a rivulet into our own little gardens," suddenly, "this rivulet of mine becomes a stream, and then a river flowing out unto the nations."  In John 7, Jesus promises to all who are thirsty, not only a "spring," but instead "streams of living water" flowing from one's belly.

The woman at the well drank from the spring He offered, and dropping her bucket, she ran into the village with "streams of living water."  Seeking Wisdom from the Source is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE CAN DO!

We can seek Wisdom or we can seek Knowledge from Experience.  One leads to eternal life, peace, joy, and delight in the presence of God.  The other leads to depression, loneliness, isolation, and eternal hunger and thirst.  The slightest turn from one to the other brings the Father "running down the road to meet and embrace" us, the prodigal son.  And won't He still put the ring on our finger, the cloak on our shoulder, and prepare for us a feast without measure when we return to His house?