The Ladies and the Man

Proverbs 9 to 12

Ch 9:1 “Wisdom has built her house;

She has hewn out seven pillars.

…And has also set her table.

3 She has sent out her maids,

And she calls from the highest point of the city.

4’Let all who are simple come in here!

5 Come, eat my food….

6 Leave your simple ways and you will live.

Walk in the way of understanding.’

9 Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still.

Teach a righteous man

And he will add to his learning.

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom

And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

11 For through me your days will be many…”

13 The woman Folly is loud;

She is undisciplined and without knowledge.

14 She sits at the door of her house

15 calling out to those who pass by,

16 ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’

17 Stolen water is sweet;

Food eaten in secret is delicious!’

18 But little do they know that the dead are there,

That her guests are in the depths of the grave.”

That is Lady wisdom.  

There is also Lady folly.

This personification of two very different life paths.  

Wisdom makes appeals and warnings and folly lures and entices.

Wisdom sets a table to encourage fellowship and learning while lady Folly sits by her door and calls to those who are on their way somewhere else.  Where you “can check in anytime you like but you can never leave”.

Proverbs 10 to 22 are directly attributed to Solomon.   These are his pearls.  Pieces of wisdom. Idioms and saying.  Not promises or prophecies. Of salt of the earth living and dying. Directions and instructions.  Warnings.  Like so many arrows on a sign post indicating the path for a wise industrious youth, as well as the way of the sluggard.  There is no rocket science between these lines.

This way to: honesty, sincerity, being blameless, upright, righteous, generous, refreshing, life, discipline, wisdom, blessing, integrity, correction, and wealth.   

That way to: disgrace, violence, punishment, dissension, perishing, destruction, craving, laziness, faithlessness, death, rot, and ruin.

It is that clear.  There is an awful lot of power in words.  But actions speak for you, sometimes even louder than any words that could possibly come out of your mouth.  Like the ladies.

Life and the way we live it.

Invitations we accept and turn down.

Life choices and what follows. 

The situations and opportunities where you we show up. 

Words and the way we say them.

And the words we keep to ourselves. 

Words that bring pain or healing,

Deception or truth, deceit or trust, rot or joy, death or life.

Choosing and speaking Life.

So much choice for cultivating life and growth and creating that kind of environment around you.

Warnings to pluck out the small seeds that could grow before they take root.