More musing. I just pray I get to my ‘high-stake’ writing sooner than later. But we stumbled upon something here, I think.
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
When he prepared the heavens, I was there:
when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
When he established the clouds above:
when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
When he gave to the sea his decree,
that the waters should not pass his commandment:
when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Then I was by him, as one brought up with him:
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Proverbs 8:22-31
The ESV clarifies; It may have been written that the Lord ‘possessed’ wisdom, but it also means that the Lord ‘fathered’ or ‘created’ wisdom. So just by that we have confirmation of what was also mentioned in the Proverbs a couple of chapters earlier – rather, it makes sense for the Teacher to write that ‘the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom’, because there would be no wisdom without the Lord in the first place – or the Lord HIMSELF is the beginning of wisdom.
But take note. The first words in the first book of the Bible mentions that we have been created in His image, and in that sense, we have also been ‘fathered’ or ‘created’ by Him (we could also say in this regard that we have been ‘possessed’ by Him, but that’s a line for another time); one striking difference between God fathering us and Wisdom is seen in the next verses: She (‘Wisdom has built HER house’, Proverbs 9:1, emphasis added) was ‘set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was’.
Wisdom was (1) fathered in eternity with no beginning or end, and (2) was present in the beginning – as such, the personification of wisdom was witness as time began, as the boundaries of space were established, and as life was formed as trees, birds and beasts of land and sea. We also read how even before the complexity of plants and animals were realized, Wisdom also was witness to how the Lord’s words moved the chaotic depths to take form as the mountains and the streams of water that come forth.
And I was going to keep going by being led to share, that Wisdom was present in the creation of man and woman… but it seems as if there was more emphasis in Wisdom present in what I understand as the Lord terraforming (Wikipedia: Terraforming or terraformation (“Earth-shaping”) is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable for humans to live on) in the verses that followed.
Wisdom was present in the heavens, just as she was present ‘when he set a compass upon the face of the depth’; About this, other translations and references direct me to the following verses:
He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.Job 26:10
Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. Jeremiah 5:22
And through these passages I am reminded of how the Lord not only establishes the outer boundaries of space, but this same Creator has also had to establish boundaries within – that is, perpetual boundaries between the land and the sea, or between light and darkness (although that latter statement needs more reading for me). By this I am reminded of how God is so meticulous and detailed in His creation – or, rather, He cares that much that He literally leaves no stone unturned. It’s as if to say that it’s not only God’s glory but His grace also on display in all that He creates – or, simple version: Our Creator is glorious, and gracious also.
I don’t know, I could keep going, but I’ll just stop here for now. God is beyond our concept of power in that we have come to believe that He can do anything He wants – and if that in itself doesn’t lead us to humility (and it certainly takes a huge amount of pride to vehemently refuse even considering this Truth), it’s the fact that He did everything He did thinking about us, in His terraforming that would probably do us in. Well, it certainly gets to me, any way – the consideration that the Lord created just enough stars in the seemingly endless heavens just so that we would have the right amounts of elements in this planet’s atmosphere for us to inhale in each and every one of our 672,768,000 breaths (on average, if we live up to 80) for our blood and flesh not only to survive, but to grow and thrive.
The One who created Wisdom before the beginning is the Beginning of Wisdom, and to fear Him – that is, for me, to believe Him, and to intentionally consider that He is who He says He is, and He did what He said He did, down to the saving Truth that He sent His Son to be born, to die, rise again, and ascend to reconcile us; Oh, to fear Him brings us to Wisdom. As such, we have been brought to a perspective eternal, beyond our finite senses; We have not transcended, as mystics would strive towards. We have something better – we have the Creator of Wisdom, and all that is, for us in our frailties, and celebrating us in all our finite minds could perceive as important.
Stopping here. Thank God for His glory and grace.
Until the next post, God bless you.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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