At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud. – Proverbs 8:2-3

Today's Scripture Reading (November 5, 2022): Proverbs 8

Secrets are strange things. And often, they take on a life of their own, bending our will to their desires. Secrets can be dangerous, and they can become the rulers of all who try to keep them. In our personal lives, I seldom find a purpose in the idea of a secret. We keep them because if the knowledge were revealed, we think we would feel uncomfortable or be placed in some kind of danger. But keeping unnecessary secrets puts us in unnecessary peril. The earlier most secrets are revealed, the less threat they pose to our lives and the less stress we have to endure because of the secret.

Solomon personifies wisdom, and he stresses that wisdom is never a secret to be kept. Secret societies that make you follow a certain path with a secret handshake to achieve wisdom are ridiculous. Wisdom should be obvious and available to everyone. Jesus said that "a town built on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14). In the same way, wisdom cannot be hidden because it reveals itself at the crest of the hill where everyone can see it. Wisdom stands at the city's gates and on the main highways that enter an urban community. Wisdom exists at the places where roads meet and where people are continually brought together. If we don't follow the ways of wisdom, it is not because we don't know but because we choose to do something different.

I have always taught those around me that getting rich is easy. Regardless of who you are, wealth follows one principle; spend less than you make. That's it. Do this, and you will attain wealth. Most people groan when I reveal my wise solution because they already know that. What they want is a different, easier way to achieve wealth. But I stress that those ways don't exist; if they did, we wouldn't be ready for the wealth we might receive. That is the secret revealed by lottery winners. A winning lottery ticket rarely changes life for long. The winners buy the things they want until the money is gone, and then they go back to the same life, living paycheck to paycheck, just as they did before they won the money.

Wisdom is often obvious, but we don't want to listen to it. We know that alcohol and drug use will shrink our opportunities, but we continue to use them. We know that life exists within a certain set of parameters, yet we rebel against those parameters. We know that sexual promiscuity increases the chances of illness even if we participate in safe sex, yet we are willing to assume the long-term risk for short-term pleasure. Wisdom is not hard to find. It is there for all of us. Southern Baptist theologian Duane Garrett makes this observation.

"The important point is that wisdom is for ordinary people—she is not confined to the academic classroom or to sacred precincts of the temple. Nor is she high atop some mountain where only the hardiest and most determined will find her. To the contrary, she wants to attract all and be accessible to all" (Duane Garrett).

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Proverbs 9