The Eternal Search for Wisdom: Reflections on Proverbs 1:20-33

September 09, 2012 by John Holbert

Continued from Page 1

When I read these ancient words, I cannot help but think of the environmental calamity we all face. Temperatures are rising worldwide, bringing with them more catastrophic floods and devastating droughts. The science is now settled on this matter; we humans are the primary cause of it all, led by our insatiable demands for fossil fuels and the resulting massive CO2 emissions that are literally changing our atmosphere to a heat-trapping envelope that threatens us all. Despite the certainties of all this, leaders in our country, along with leaders in emerging economies, refuse to face the reality head-on. Like the ancient proverbial writer, when we finally turn to "seek Wisdom" at last, it may be too late.

Yet, the author of the ancient words holds out hope for us still; we Christians, too, cannot finally descend into cynical despair. So, let us hear these final lines of Proverbs 2 with genuine hope for our futures, knowing that if we seek Wisdom we may find at last that world God wants us to find. "Waywardness kills the simple; the complacency of fools destroys them, but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster" (Prov. 1:32-33). May it be so, O God!

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About John Holbert

John C. Holbert is the Lois Craddock Perkins Professor Emeritus of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, TX.

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