Proverbs 9:1 [ESV] Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.
We live in a house just now that’s not ours. It is a beautiful house, and at this exact time we could not afford to purchase it. I wonder about our future, what we will do, where we will live. If it was just me it would be fine, I would live in a camper van, travelling around Australia, working where I could and having enough money to buy food and fuel and expenses such as repairs and insurance would be my only concern. I would write my book and fashion it well. I would lose myself in solitude and isolation, finding peace there.
But, and I’m glad, it’s not just me. Wendy my wife is with me. And a house is essential. I pray each day to my God for wisdom and resources so that we could one day buy Wendy the house of her dreams, something I want her to have, but lays outside of our current means. What pillars of wisdom do I need to carve out, to engrave, of cut for myself, that currently are not in place. My cry to God each morning is mostly for others, but my prayers for myself include a deep cry for wisdom each day. Wisdom that does not position itself at the head of the table, wisdom that has grace and favour to spare, wisdom that makes abundant room for others and is content just to know God. Widom that waits, actively pursuing the very thing it waits for. I reckon one pillar of wisdom for me to pursue from today onwards is pro-active patience.
KNOWLEDGE
When we hear the word wisdom it can elucidate a wide range of responses from people, or even from myself, depending on my existing circumstances. I think of successful people who seem to have just the right approach to building a business, or who have made great decisions and now own a beautiful house or even several houses. I think of people who have made lives for themselves that allow them to pursue their happiness and to do that with total abandonment. Or, academics, lost in piles of books, on their search for greater understanding and insight. Then, pausing, I consider myself now at sixty-six years old, we don’t own a house, I am slightly over-weight, my job pays a basic salary, and make high demands on my time, my coaching business is something I love, yet I have never really managed to bring it to its full potential, as I allow myself to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of seemingly successful coaches out there. What to do? Just keep going, bringing my best each day to my family, my role, and my opportunities. In the past God has taken this and added His blessings to it.
UNDERSTANDING
Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?
The word used for “hewn” is pronounced as “haseh” in Hebrew and carries the meaning of, to dig, be cut out, to be engraved or cut in pieces.
The LXX uses the word “υπήρεισε” [hupereise] which means “she propped up” – From the Greek prefix ὑπέρ (huper, meaning “over” or “beyond”) and εἶδον (eidon, meaning “to see” or “to perceive”). Wisdom therefore could perhaps be something engraved into us by our relationship with God that equips us with foresight beyond our own experiences.
WISDOM
What pillars are being established my life today – have I made room each day for God to talk to me?
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Strategic, as a Gallup Strength, knows the way forwards, and know the ways not to go.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version – Wisdom has established her household and home, she has cut our her seven pillars.
Wisdom – Wisdom
has built – has established
her house – her household and home,
she has hewn – she has cut out
her seven – her seven
pillars – pillars
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to equally establish my home with you and to lean into and acquire your wisdom.
To chat to me as a professional coach/mentor – allan@theallankey.com
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