When Wisdom Comes Home
Over the past couple of months, I’ve found myself repeatedly returning to the Bible’s vision for wisdom. James instructed dispersed believers to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5). What kind of wisdom should we ask God for? Proverbs does the heavy lifting of explaining and defining wisdom for us. In doing so, Proverbs draws an important distinction between the wisdom many seek today and the wisdom God promises to provide to those who ask.
Wisdom from God isn’t meant to impress people from a distance. Although many aspire to become wise so their own thoughts can fill lecture halls, dominate podcasts, and win arguments, the gifts that come from above aren’t meant to win others’ admiration. A wise man may speak eloquently about theology, leadership, culture, and truth, but that isn’t what defines wisdom. Real wisdom, at the end of the day, comes home in ordinary faithfulness.
“Real wisdom, at the end of the day, comes home in ordinary faithfulness.”
While there is an overwhelming amount of literature on Proverbs 31, most of it fails to capture the chapter’s most striking contributions. Wisdom is revealed through ordinary faithfulness. Throughout the book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman. The reader encounters wisdom in the streets, calling out to the simple. Wisdom is contrasted with foolishness. Then, at the close of this collection of pithy sayings designed and inspired to communicate biblical wisdom, we see wisdom herself in the home!
The woman of Proverbs 31 has often been reduced to either an impossible standard or a sentimental caricature. The climactic portrait of wisdom personified is richer than many realize from a quick read of the chapter. How beautiful to see wisdom embodied in the everyday rigmarole of daily life. So, what is wisdom?
Wisdom is fearing the Lord, serving others, laboring diligently, speaking with kindness, strengthening your household, and blessing your community. In fact, that’s the natural progression of wisdom as it enters the heart, shaping personal actions, then those closest to us, and finally those further away. The author of Proverbs must work poetically to reveal the many aspects of wisdom that go unnoticed. At the end of this book, we behold the culmination of faithfulness as wisdom becomes visible.
What strikes me about the passage is how profoundly ordinary most of it is. This is important for the church today.
We often assume that maturity is measured by what we see in public. We measure the quality of our churches by what we can scale and brag about. But that’s not what God brags about. We find Him delighting in faithful endurance within ordinary callings. Many problems in churches today stem from a small, easy-to-address issue: caring more about the crowd than the people. Even the best public speaker will find themselves tangled in their words at some point. Investing intentionally in others affects more lives than simply sitting in the crowd. We’d do well to remember that true discipleship happens away from stages and spotlights.
For pastors especially, Proverbs 31 offers a needed reminder that we can become adept at thinking in terms of platforms, productivity, and perception, and lose sight of what it means to cultivate maturity in our homes so we can truly be a blessing to our communities. We can admit together that it would be a shame to pursue influence while failing to nurture gentleness, patience, attentiveness, or hospitality in our lives.
Healthy churches are built by ordinary saints who quietly live wisely.
Perhaps that is one reason Proverbs ends this way. After all the warnings about folly and exhortations toward wisdom, we are finally shown what wisdom looks like as it settles into everyday life. I’m glad that it often comes through the ordinary means of grace, as the Spirit forms that same wisdom within those in union with Christ. I’m glad that, over time, wisdom comes home.
Originally published by the Baptist Trumpet. Read the original article.