Proverbs 8:6. Hear, for I will speak noble things,
You may recall that Lady Wisdom is doing the talking here in Proverbs 8. Wisdom is a woman who is calling out to all who will listen and follow. Wisdom always speaks what is noble. This word used here for noble is the word for a prince or ruler. Wisdom speaks like a king or queen. Just like we might expect the King or Queen of England to not use potty humor, off-colored jokes, or to speak of base things, so too Wisdom herself will speak with nobility.
The question is, are we listening to the noble things that Wisdom speaks?
Jesus is Wisdom himself, and like Lady Wisdom, Jesus is speaking noble things to us. But can we hear him? Or are we too distracted with the things of this world? Power. Success. Identity. Self-actualization. Following our dreams. Controlling our destiny.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul contrasts the high and noble wisdom of God with the wisdom of the world. But what he calls God’s wisdom would have been shocking to the world, if not to the church in Corinth itself.
1 Corinthians 1:18. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The cross. The cross IS the wisdom and power of God on full display. The world considers the cross of Christ, and all that it implies, sacrifice, weakness, humility, to be foolishness. But they are perishing. Why? Because they have foolishly chosen to have their power in the natural rather than in the supernatural love of Christ. By contrast, for those who are being saved the cross is power. It is wisdom. It is our salvation.
Now, with Christ living in us, we can hear the secret, hidden, and noble things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:7-10. 7But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—10these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
The Holy Spirit in us is revealing to us the high things of God, things only God knows. Noble things. But the irony is that these secret things of God are actually hidden in the simplicity and lowness of the cross. Perfect strength hidden in weakness. Self-control hidden in self-abandonment. Glory hidden in shame. Honor hidden in humiliation. Justice hidden in forgiveness. Vengeance hidden in grace.
Praise God that the secret and hidden, the noble things of God are not actually secret or hidden anymore. They are revealed in the foolishness of the cross. The high and noble wisdom of God is considered ridiculous and even insane to the world. Strength through weakness? Life through death? Victory through defeat? That’s not nobility. That’s not princely. Only a fool would take such a path.
Come be a fool in Christ.
You: Has the way of the cross ever felt like foolishness to you personally?
You in Christ: In what way is the cross both foolish yet noble?
Christ in you: In what ways might Christ in you look foolish to some, but noble to others?
Pray: Father, your high and noble ways look foolish to the world. Help me to live in the nobility of the cross even with all its weakness and foolishness. Amen.
To Live is Christ 