A Do-It-Yourself Family Legacy – Not!

Proverbs 8:
1. Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2. She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.

This is an interesting personification of Wisdom. What is the proverb trying to say by it? I think it is this – Wisdom is not hard to find. It is very public. It can be found everywhere and in everything. This description of Wisdom is very similar to how Moses describes the Law.

“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;” (Deuteronomy 30:11-15)

Now the similarity is not that Moses is personifying the Law. He is not. The similarity is that like Wisdom the Law is near us. Moses is describing people who speak something like this: “I love the Law so much I would climb the highest mountain or travel around the world to get it.” This person thinks that the proverb we read on February 2nd . . .

“If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;” (Proverbs 2:4)

. . . means that he must perform some kind of heroic “I’ll do it myself” work to gain Wisdom. But it doesn’t mean that at all. It means that we must deny ourselves and submit in faith to God. The entire creation shouts this to us every day just like Wisdom does in our proverb. Then why don’t we do it? – Because of our nature. We are like Pogo said in 1971 (in a different context).

"We have met the enemy and he is us"

When God presents to us his creation, or Wisdom, or the Law, or even the Gospel, our sinful response often is, “Thanks God, but I will do it myself,” or, “Thanks for the tip, God, I can take it from here.” Wrong response. It’s not that the response doesn’t require us to do something, it does. But the required response is faith and faithfulness, not, “I’ll do it myself.” This is the context of Paul’ statement of the Gospel when he quotes the above Deuteronomy text.

“But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;” (Romans 10:6-8)

See the Deuteronomy text really is talking about faith, and to remove all doubt Paul goes on to write this familiar text.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” (Romans 10:9-11)

So after all this meandering what does this proverb have to do with building a Family Legacy? Simply this. Wisdom, which is so essential for building a Family Legacy is right there shouting at you and calling to you, just like the creation, the law and the Gospel. And it is not calling you to heroic-do-it-your-selfism, but to a faithful embrace of, submission to and obedience to Jesus Christ in his Word.