Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life

This week’s lesson introduces the topic for our study—wisdom—by asking some basic questions about the nature of wisdom in the book of Proverbs: What is wisdom? Where does wisdom come from? And why communicate wisdom through proverbial sayings?

In this lesson, we turn our attention to two competing voices that call for our attention in Proverbs 1-9 and two rival ‘ways’ by which we live: the way of wisdom and the way of folly. How do these two voices still call to us today? Which way will we choose?

This week, we focus our attention on the ‘noble woman’ described in Proverbs 31. This noble woman is not simply a model of a good wife; she is an embodiment of wisdom itself, a heroic exemplar that we are meant to admire and emulate.

On the surface, Ecclesiastes seems to be a book of despair: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” But a closer read reveals it to be a sophisticated critique of common ways of finding meaning and happiness without God that directs our attention back to the absolute necessity of the gospel. In this lesson, we begin our study of this wonderful and often strange book by discussing two important keys for understanding Ecclesiastes as a whole and learning to appreciate its sober wisdom.

Wealth and pleasure: these are two of the primary ways that we pursue both meaning and happiness in life today. But as we learn this week in our study of Ecclesiastes, the pursuit of happiness through wealth and pleasure is not a new phenomenon. It is very old indeed. Yet, according to the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, the pursuit of wealth is ultimately a vain and hollow pursuit. It does not give us what we seek from it. In our lesson this week, we will seek to listen closely to the Preacher’s criticism of the pursuit of wealth and discuss together how his teaching might help us live more wisely in our materialistic culture.

Modern Americans work harder and for longer hours than almost ever before. And our work is not just a way of providing for ourselves and our families. Our work is a source of identity; it defines who we are. Our work is a source of meaning; it gives us purpose.

According to the writer of Ecclesiastes, however, work is like wealth. It is vain. If we look to it to provide meaning and happiness, it will inevitably disappoint us. So how can we relate to work wisely? What is the difference between good and bad work? How do we work well?

No matter what challenge may come our way, we human beings can use our technological abilities and scientific knowledge to overcome it. Or at least that’s what we tell ourselves. In the book of Ecclesiastes, we discover that human wisdom has limits, that even the wisest among us are subject to the ravages of a fallen world, and that the vanity of life extends even to wisdom itself. What, then, does wisdom really provide? What does it look like to live wisely in a world where even wisdom can be vain?

Living wisely means living well in a world that is both good and fallen. That is easy to say, but it is very difficult to actually do, especially when the fallenness of the world intrudes into our lives in the form of pain and suffering. What could it possibly mean to be “wise” in the way that we respond to suffering and grief? How do we continue to “fear God” when it seems that God has turned against us? Why is it that bad things happen to good and wise people? Tonight we will begin to address some of these questions as we turn our attention to one of the most haunting and profound books in the Bible, the book of Job.

Living wisely requires us to seek out wise counsel. In response to his suffering, Job seeks counsel from three friends: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite. Job’s three friends attempt to make sense his trials by using retribution theology, a common and yet ultimately foolish response to suffering. But despite their foolish counsel, the failures of Job’s friends teach us what it means to read scripture well in light of suffering.