While Proverbs 31 and its virtuous woman gets all the press, Proverbs 30 is chock-full of truth that deserves our prolonged and repeated reflection.
For now, I will only comment on the first four verses. With our perspective, here on the other side of the cross, it is difficult to know whether this is a proverb or a prophecy. The proverbial portion rings as true now as it did then. The way to become “weary” and “worn out” in life (1) is to live without the understanding that a man should have (2). Many such cases exist in the world. Living by one’s own intuition and by our generation’s platitudes does not lead to strength and flourishing but to being used up and tired. Foolishness is exhausting.
But there is wisdom here. Agur is wise enough acknowledge his lack of wisdom (3). This is a good start. The exhaustion is telling him (and us) something, and the wise man stops and asks, “What is it saying?”
The next step of wisdom is that Agur looks up, not inwardly. Modern psychotherapy says, “look within yourself for answers.” After all, modern psychotherapy seeks to “cure the soul” (that’s what the word means in Latin), but without regard for the Creator. But the first glimmer of wisdom, after acknowledging our lack of it, is to look outside ourselves for wisdom, for the immutable Logos of the universe (John 1:1).
Remarkably, our man Agur has the sense to conceive that wisdom is not found in some impersonal ether that floats disembodied in the air, but in a Person (4). If only there were Someone who could ascend to the heavens, grab hold of the timeless wisdom of God - the Logos, as the Greeks called it - and then come down and share it with him. But this Person would have to have authority over nature itself, demonstrated by His command of the winds and the waters (4b).
Come to think of it - this Person would need to be the Creator, the One who established the ends of the earth. What is His name? What is His Son’s name?
And then, in a wry twist, our man Agur turns to us, the readers, and asks of us - Surely you know?!
Yes, His name is Yahweh, and His Son is Jesus the Christ, the living Word, the Logos, the One who is both with God and who IS God. Jesus is the Son who is the one who speaks with authority to nothing, “Let there be light,” (Gen. 1:3) and to the oceans, “Peace, be still!” (Mark 4:39), and they obey.
And he is the one who descends from the heavens, Himself the Word of God (Heb. 1:1). He descends to become our slave, our sacrifice on the cross, to take authority for all our sins and grant us forgiveness. And then he was our cry of triumph in Sheol to our enemies (1 Peter 3:19).
Yet death could not hold him, and so not only was he raised from the dead, but he also ascended back to his Father’s right hand. Yet this time, he was not alone. He brings with himself “a host of captives,” (Eph. 4:8) - all those who have placed their faith in him. By faith we who are in Christ are now united with the wisdom of the ages . . .
. . . that Agur longed to see. What a privilege we have, to see what Agur could only long for. What a privilege, and therefore what a responsibility. Where is wisdom found? Only in Christ. Only in humbly submitting to His words, as being authoritative over every aspect of life.
No matter where we are in life - that exhaustion when we feel it, is telling us something: “Submit yourself, humbly, like a child, under His very words - and find life!”
April 12: Proverbs 30