In the past couple of weeks, I spent some time in Proverbs 3:13-20. The thing about this section is that Solomon personifies wisdom as a lady who comes alongside God in creating and ruling the world, especially in verses 19-20. And she sounds so much like Jesus that liberal protestants have made this cult around "Sophia", as if the Bible was portraying Jesus in female pronouns.
Let me tell you, the Bible has never portrayed any member of the Trinity in female terms. Some may argue that the Greek word for Holy Spirit is female, but it's not. Our God only presents himself in male pronouns and he sent Jesus as a man.
On a side note, this does not really have to do with a conversation I had the other day where I was saying, "God is not a woman". I more meant that he's not overly emotional and sappy, and that I feel like the Message Bible is. But it's not a bad leap of logic.
Anyway, wisdom sounds so much like Jesus, however, the it would not be in appropriate to change "wisdom" for Jesus and to change the pronouns to male.
Let's do that starting at verse 13: Blessed are those who find Jesus, who gain understanding of him. He is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. He is more precious than rubies and nothing you desire can compare with him. Long life is in his right hand and in his left hand are riches and honor. His ways are pleasant ways and his paths lead to peace. He is a tree of life to those who take hold of him, and those who hold fast to him are blessed.
Sometimes it seems to good to be true. His ways don't always seem peaceful, and if you follow him, it seems that the world will forsake you, and sometimes, often times, godly people die young. But we must remember that the Bible's promises are mostly for the life to come in Christ's complete kingdom when he comes back to earth. In that era, we will live forever and not lack anything. There will be no holes in our hearts because our Bread of Life is here in the flesh.
It brings to mind the concept from CS Lewis, that if we find that nothing in this world truly satisfies, even the best things, then it could be because we were made for another place. And it's true. God has given me a house, a husband, an active church, opportunities to serve him, friends to fellowship with. None of them are enough. They weren't meant to be. They were meant to point to him. And if I lose sight of him and focus on them, I find he slowly takes them away, and I'm heartbroken again.
I was listening to a lecture by Joel Beeke of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He talked about how Joseph of Genesis sent wagons of riches to his father Jacob to show that he is alive and living in Egypt. What if Jacob saw those riches and said, "I'll just settle here in Canaan and enjoy these gifts."? No, Jacob wants to go see his son who he thought was dead. These things in life are supposed to make us long for our Lord who we have never seen. Sometimes the idea of him gets lost because we have not seen him and I start focusing on this person over here or that house over there. No, and I have to tell myself this over and over because I forget daily, they are meant to point to Jesus, and only he will satisfy those longings that they don't quite quench.
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