Message: As I read between Genesis 3 and Proverbs 3 I couldn’t help but notice a theme with the word “wisdom”. Maybe I always assumed that Eve ate from the tree because the serpent tricked her into believing she wouldn’t actually die, but today I saw something different that became more bold and clear as I read more in Proverbs. Genesis 3:6 says that the woman saw that the tree was good for food (check), and it was delightful to look at (check) and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. Ok, now I have read this over and over again but the implications of this verse shifted for me today as I really thought about what that meant. Her eyes were not yet opened, but the desire for wisdom was there. How ironic that her desire for wisdom caused her to make such an unwise choice of disobedience to obtain it! My mind is flooded with additional questions and I know that I probably will not be privy to the answers in this life, but I can’t help but wonder if God had other plans for introducing mankind to the knowledge of good and evil in his own timing. As humans, we have a nasty tendency for jumping the gun on things we aren’t quite ready for, and when we read about wisdom in Proverbs it is described as the thing that we should seek out and desire to obtain. Like other wonderful things, I have a hard time believing that God intended to hold back wisdom from us entirely, because it is one of his attributes. Wisdom is literally WHO he is, and Genesis makes it very clear that God every intention of spending time with Adam & Eve to allow them to get to know him. I do believe that like everything else, he had an orderly plan for introducing wisdom and knowledge to mankind. Because of the way Eve chose to go about it, it came with a cost. A very high cost. Not only did her decision bring sin and death upon us all, but wisdom continues to be something that comes with a cost. Most of the wisdom I have obtained in life cost me something. It was either a painful lesson or it was painful obedience. Sometimes both. Rather than trying to understand the why behind how it all began, wisdom reminds me that the point for me is to see the value in it and respect that the cost of obtaining it is worth it. While I hope to obtain wisdom in a more proactive way, I’m thankful that the pain of obtaining wisdom is worth it’s value if I actually choose to learn from it.
Command: Obtain wisdom. (Preferably through obedience rather than painful lessons.)
Promise: When I value wisdom and choose to learn from it, it will benefit my life.
Warning: I can still learn lessons of wisdom the hard way, but it comes at a much higher and more painful cost.
Application: My desire for wisdom does not actually make me wise. It is my pursuit that determines that. When my pursuit is accompanied with disobedience and a disregard for God’s warnings, I can be sure to learn a painful lesson to obtain that wisdom. If my pursuit for wisdom is tempered with obedience and humility, it will cost my flesh the painful price of endurance and long suffering, and it will deny my flesh that instant gratification, but it will also reap the rewards that come with my obedience. I’m thankful that by God’s grace we are still given the opportunity to gain wisdom-even when we pursuit it the wrong way. This reminds me that I need to respect the process that God has for me. My hunger and desire for wisdom is only wise, when it is tempered with humility and obedience. But I’m thankful for the harder option for the times when I fail the preferred method! All is not lost, it just comes with a co
