Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the LORD.
But he who sins against me injures himself;
all those who hate me love death. 

Proverbs 8:32-36

We’ve made it! Wisdom in her own voice has come to the end or her narrative in chapter eight. We will hear from her again, but for now let’s see what we can gather from her so far.

Wisdom is appealing to all of mankind in this narrative, not just Solomon’s sons and she gives a summary paragraph gleaned from the impressive account of herself in majority of this chapter. What is her appeal? Choices! 

Either We…

Listen: This means to hear with purpose and then act upon wisdom’s daily call.

Keep: This means to remember what we have listened to and acted on for future reference when wisdom is needed.

Heed: This means be willing and teachable student of wisdom. We have never arrived when it comes to gaining instruction of wisdom.

Watch: This means to be looking for wisdom in every area and detail of our lives.

Wait: This means to not rush ahead of wisdom’s clear guidance. Fools rush in! The wise listen, heed, find and watch and then move in. They may have to do this very quickly reference previous wisdom moments, but they aren’t foolish.

Find: This means to always search for the treasure of wisdom with the end result of thriving in our lives not just surviving!

Obtain: This means the end result of all our 24/7 wisdom encounters garnered over decades of years. And that end result is ‘Favor from the LORD’! YES!

OR WE…

Neglect: This means we get lazy in our search for wisdom and look for easy ways to fulfill our dreams and quick fixes to our daily struggles. 

Sins: This means we can actually sin against wisdom. Interesting fact to ponder.

Injures: This means when we do sin against wisdom, we will hurt ourselves and most likely those around we love most.

Hate: This means we can actually hate wisdom and conversely love folly instead. We will look more closely at folly, and fools and foolishness in a coming month. And it isn’t pretty.

Death: This means when we hate wisdom we are actually demonstrating that we love death. Another interesting fact that we would do well to ponder and seriously ask God to avoid this and seek out His LIFE instead!