Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Voice of Wisdom | The Writings | Proverbs 8

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

Can you hear the voice of Wisdom? How does wisdom transform us? What does it look like to listen to God's voice? In today's episode, Jeff shares why the voice of Wisdom in Proverbs 8 is a voice worth listening to. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Proverbs 8

Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. Have you heard the oldest recording of a human voice? Many people associate the oldest recording device with the name Thomas Edison and his phonograph invented in 1877. And while Edison's invention was indeed a monumental achievement and science and technology, the oldest recording of a human voice predates him by nearly 20 years.

Around 1857, Leon Scott de Martinville invented the phone autograph, a device that could capture sound waves. And with that device, he captured the oldest human voice ever recorded. It's his own voice singing the French folk song, A Claire de la Loon. If you try to listen to it online, you'll notice how scratchy and muffled his voice is. One of the reasons for that is due to the limitations of technology. While the phone autograph could record a human voice, it actually couldn't play it back for others to hear. In fact, being able to listen to human voice didn't even

occur to Leon Scott did Martinville. He just wanted to see if he could capture the sound waves. The technology allowing us to listen to this earliest recording of a human voice, well, it wasn't developed until over 100 years after this recording. Maybe I'm weird for thinking this, but that absolutely blows my mind. A voice that was captured remained silent for over a century, but then was eventually brought back to life. There's something transcendent about that voice that stretches across space and time. Even if you don't fully understand the words of the French folk song,

you understand that something significant is happening when you hear a voice that isn't bound by the barrier of years going by. As much as I love to nerd out about the oldest recorded human voice on that phone autograph, the transcendence that it portrays is minisestine. compared to the transcendence of an even older voice, a voice that goes back to the creation of all things, a voice that can not only be heard, but can be understood and responded to, a voice that draws us into a relationship with our maker. That's how the Bible describes the voice of wisdom in chapter 8 of Proverbs. This voice is absolutely transcendent, yet that transcendence isn't just something to

acknowledge as an audience. It's something to receive and relate to. As we get ready to hear about the ancient voice of wisdom in Proverbs 8, let's pause and ask for God's grace to move through our time together. Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life and breath, and thank you for your word. Jesus help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in Proverbs 8. As we read these words, let these words read us. and restore us. Help us hear your voice. In Jesus' name, amen. In Proverbs 8, the biblical author presents wisdom personified as the voice of a woman calling out to humanity. Let's pick up in verses 1 through 6 to get a sense for how this plays out. Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?

At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance she cries aloud. To you, oh people, I call out. I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudent. You who are foolish, set your hearts on it. ESV here says learn sense. CSB says develop common sense. Verse six says this. Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say. I open my lips to speak what is right. In this personification of wisdom, we get the sense that biblical wisdom is much more than just a static arrangement of best practices that some people have and some people, unfortunately, don't. Biblical wisdom is something that forms us when we encounter it. It's dynamic. It's ever changing in the way that it impacts our lives. The simple, they gain prudence. The foolish,

they learn or they develop sense. This voice doesn't just want to make. meet us, it wants to move us and mold us. Let's pause for a moment to evaluate how Proverbs 8 is recalibrating our view of wisdom. If biblical wisdom is about changing our lives, about making us into new people, what are some ways that you're rejecting its voice? What are some areas of your life where you've muffled the cry of wisdom's voice? Places where you just refuse to change. Could there be ways in which you're playing the simple or playing the role of the fool? Here's the thing about the simple and the fool here. By refusing to hear the voice of wisdom, they opt for a life of stasis and comfort.

But that comfort comes at the expense of new life. It's a comfort that turns out to be corrosive. That's why hearing the voice of wisdom matters so much. It's not simply about becoming a good person. It's about becoming a new person. Verses 12 through 21 give us a window into how this voice of wisdom makes us new over time. In verse 3, we read about how the wise person has a fear or a reverence for God that fosters humility and goodness with other people.

Verses 15 through 16 point to the just and restorative use of power in the life of a wise person. Let's look more closely at verses 19 through 20 as they illustrate the goodness of wisdom's transformation. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness and the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me and filling their treasuries. Notice here that the benefits of biblical wisdom don't involve just physical treasure. Verse 19 is explicit about that. This is something that's better than gold and silver.

The treasure here is the movement of God's kingdom in one's life. It's the fruit of the spirit that reshapes our character so that we're able to display the love and justice and beauty and truth of God through our presence. When the voice of wisdom makes us into new people, it renews the world around us too. Now, all of this is great, but here's a thing. We live in a world with so many competing voices that it's sometimes hard to remember why the voice of wisdom God's wisdom is worth hearing. That's why Proverbs 8 goes on to describe the absolute uniqueness and transcendence of God's wisdom.

Let's pick up in verse 22. And again, this is God's wisdom speaking in a personified way. We read this in verse 22. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago, I was set up at the first before the beginning of the earth. So when we think about the power of this voice, it blows the transcendence of the phonotograph out of the water. This voice is far more ancient, far more powerful, and far more meaningful.

Proverbs 8 is saying that the very voice that created life and light in the beginning of all things, that's the voice that creates wisdom in our lives. This voice isn't contained by the passage of time. It reaches out to all of humanity, calling us to move with the current of God's kingdom, that makes all things new. That's why this voice is worth hearing and responding to. It's a voice that's beyond us, and yet it still reaches out to us.

And it doesn't just reach out to people in general. It's reaching out to you now. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing as you listen to this, whatever's in store for you later today, later this week, the voice that called creation into existence is calling out to create. something new in you. Proverbs 8 ends with a final exhortation to respond to the call of God's wisdom with commands, commands like hear, listen, watch, wait. Verse 35 says this, for whoever finds me,

finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord. Biblical wisdom isn't just about capturing the sound waves of God's voice. It's about being captured by the movement of His kingdom. It's about finding life and the creator of life. How have you noticed the voice of God's wisdom calling out to you? What part of your life is he trying to speak into to create new life? God, would you help us hear your voice today? Open our ears, our minds, our hearts, our entire lives to your wisdom. As we hear your voice, create fruit in us that is better than golden, silver, cultivate the goodness of your kingdom, and make us new. In Jesus' name, amen.