Clinging to Lady Wisdom

Solomon repeatedly exhorts his son to get wisdom, be guided by understanding, cling to instruction, and value the knowledge of the Lord as greater than riches. Wisdom is likened to a woman, a lover even (Pro. 4:8). A wise son is to take hold of instruction, and not let her go, for in her is life (Pro. 4:13). This lady should be sought with the fervor of a miner during the gold-rush of 1849. 

Picture a man running to his soon to be bride, after his twelve-month deployment. They will take hold of each other, and nothing is peeling them apart. That is how a King commands his son to cling to wisdom. Remember, these are instructions for a son who will soon rule a nation. Governance at every level must be guided not by mere appetite, but by God’s transcendent wisdom.

But another lady lingers in the shadows of the book of Proverbs. Her name is Folly. She doesn’t have any interest in loyalty or fidelity. Her embrace is not one of mutual love; it is the embrace of a boa constrictor. She plans to suffocate, then devour. If you become Lady Folly’s lover, your only loyalty will be to your basest cravings. Food, sex, money, sleep, will become your all-consuming desires. Your pursuit will not be for wisdom, and the blessings which come by it. Your pursuit will be for fleeting pleasures, which will return less and less pleasure, as they turn you into a ghost of a person.

Whereas Lady Wisdom is a tree of life, Lady Folly is a grave (Pro. 2:18). Dead lives, dead families, dead cities, dead nations are so because they have embraced, and been embraced by Lady Folly. 

Our governments at every level are in ruins. We are not ruled by Wisdom, we are not found in her embrace. Rather, our nation has embraced the follies of same-sex mirages, abortion, antidepressants, entertainment gluttony, and taxes on others to pay for all these pursuits. It is no wonder that what God said would happen, has happened, “None that go unto Lady Folly return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life (Pro. 2:19).” 

Our self-government, family government, and national government have all wandered down the path of Lady Folly, and we deserve the death that awaits us, unless God grants a revival of repentance. Only Lady Wisdom establishes a government for the living. So cling to her.