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Proverbs 8 New Living Translation
Proverbs 8Living Bible
8 1-3 Can’t you hear the voice of wisdom? She is standing at the city gates and at every fork in the road, and at the door of every house. Listen to what she says: 4-5 “Listen, men!” she calls. “How foolish and naive you are! Let me give you understanding. O foolish ones, let me show you common sense! 6-7 Listen to me! For I have important information for you. Everything I say is right and true, for I hate lies and every kind of deception. 8 My advice is wholesome and good. There is nothing of evil in it. 9 My words are plain and clear to anyone with half a mind—if it is only open! 10 My instruction is far more valuable than silver or gold.”
11 For the value of wisdom is far above rubies; nothing can be compared with it. 12 Wisdom and good judgment live together, for wisdom knows where to discover knowledge and understanding. 13 If anyone respects and fears God, he will hate evil. For wisdom hates pride, arrogance, corruption, and deceit of every kind.
14-16 “I, Wisdom, give good advice and common sense. Because of my strength, kings reign in power, and rulers make just laws. 17 I love all who love me. Those who search for me shall surely find me. 18 Unending riches, honor, justice, and righteousness are mine to distribute. 19 My gifts are better than the purest gold or sterling silver! 20 My paths are those of justice and right. 21 Those who love and follow me are indeed wealthy. I fill their treasuries. 22 The Lord formed me in the beginning, before he created anything else.[a] 23 From ages past, I am. I existed before the earth began. 24 I lived before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters onto the earth, 25 before the mountains and the hills were made. 26 Yes, I was born before God made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil.
27-29 “I was there when he established the heavens and formed the great springs in the depths of the oceans. I was there when he set the limits of the seas and gave them his instructions not to spread beyond their boundaries. I was there when he made the blueprint for the earth and oceans. 30 I was the craftsman at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence. 31 And how happy I was with what he created—his wide world and all his family of mankind! 32 And so, young men, listen to me, for how happy are all who follow my instructions.
33 “Listen to my counsel—oh, don’t refuse it—and be wise. 34 Happy is the man who is so anxious to be with me that he watches for me daily at my gates, or waits for me outside my home! 35 For whoever finds me finds life and wins approval from the Lord. 36 But the one who misses me has injured himself irreparably. Those who refuse me show that they love death.”
The Incomparable Worth of Wisdom
Love Worth Finding
Adrian Rogers
For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. (Proverbs 8:11)All fathers desire wisdom for their children and Solomon was no exception. This Scripture is from the king to his son. “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee” (Proverbs 2:1). He wants his son to prosper, and find fulfillment, so he advises, “Son, if you will only listen to your dad, I will show you how.”
These are also words for sons and daughters of the King. If you are a child of the King, you believe this counsel is not merely the words of Solomon, but the words of God speaking His wisdom through Solomon. These are wise words to all the “King’s kids.”
Wisdom Is the Product of the Spirit
“To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom…” (Proverbs 1:2-3a).
There is a teacher and in the case of true wisdom, that instructor is the Holy Spirit of God, Whom the Bible calls “the Spirit of wisdom.”
Genuine wisdom is supernatural. Yet it is important to understand the difference between wisdom and common sense. Common sense is natural. Wisdom is uncommon sense. It originated with God, resides in God, emanates from God, and is given as a gift from God.
The difference between wisdom and knowledge is this:
• Knowledge is needed to pass the test in school, but wisdom is needed to pass the test in life.
• Knowledge is learned; wisdom is given.
• Knowledge comes by looking around; wisdom comes by looking up.
• Knowledge comes by study; wisdom comes by meditation with God.
• Wisdom teaches one how to apply his knowledge.
Wisdom is not synonymous with knowledge nor is it a substitute for knowledge. Rather, it is the product of the Spirit. Some things in life cannot be learned — those must be given. I would never minimize a proper formal education, but there are certain matters no school can teach you. And in a greatersense there are issues about life that can only be learned from God.
Wisdom Is the Presence of the Savior
To know wisdom… (Proverbs 1:2a).
To know wisdom is to know Jesus Christ. And therefore, if you do not have Jesus, you cannot have wisdom. Paul well expressed this inescapable truth: “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Christ is the wisdom of God. This was the idea John the apostle conveyed when he wrote his Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:1,14)
The Greek word translated “Word” was logos. Logos means a thought or a concept or the expression or utterance of that thought. Jesus, the living Word, is God and is therefore the perfect expression and extension of the divine wisdom. Real wisdom is discovered only in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ — the wisdom of God, the Word of God, God Himself.
The Bible notes that the great are not necessarily the wise. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness…” (1 Corinthians 1:18a). “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom [worldly wisdom apart from God] knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching[the thing preached] to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
God is so good and so wise that you will never be able to know Him by human wisdom, human perception, or human understanding. No one has a head start on God. All of the philosophers, theologians, and scientists of history could never discover Him through human wisdom.
And one can never know the wisdom of God until Christ, the living wisdom of God, is in their heart. Even the Old Testament saints were wise only because the Spirit of the Lord Jesus dwelt in them. Jesus pointed out, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).
Apart from Christ there is no wisdom. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Wisdom commences at conversion, but deepens by discipleship. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10a). The moment a person is converted to Christ, the wisdom of God comes into him, and the indwelling Spirit of God begins to teach him the truths of the Lord.
No wonder wisdom is of such infinite worth!
I started this series on my letters and postcards to Hugh Hefner back in September when I read of the passing of Mr. Hefner. There are many more to come. It is my view that he may have taken time to look at glance at one or two of them since these postcards were short and from one of Hef’s favorite cities!!!!
Feb 7, 2017 letter A Proverbs 7
Xxxxxx
—-
February 7, 2017 letter A
Hugh Hefner
Playboy Mansion
16236 Charing Cross RoadLos Angeles, CA 90024
Dear Hugh,
Today is Feb 7 so I want to quote from Proverbs 7. Good advice today from anyone in New Orleans like me.
1-5 Dear friend, do what I tell you;
treasure my careful instructions.
Do what I say and you’ll live well.
My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!
Write it out on the back of your hands;
etch it on the chambers of your heart.
Talk to Wisdom as to a sister.
Treat Insight as your companion.
They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress—
that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
—–
Don’t you wish your sons would be faithful to the wife of their youth? It is God’s plan and the best plan by far!!!
Check out Romans 3:23; 5:8; 10:9-10.
Best wishes,
Everette Hatcher
___________
I wrote to Hefner in an earlier letter these words:
Don’t you see that Solomon was right when he observed life UNDER THE SUN without God in the picture and he then concluded in Ecclesiastes 2:11:
“All was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained UNDER THE SUN.”
Notice this phrase UNDER THE SUN since it appears about 30 times in Ecclesiastes. Francis Schaeffer noted that Solomon took a look at the meaning of life on the basis of human life standing alone between birth and death “under the sun.” This phrase UNDER THE SUN appears over and over in Ecclesiastes. The Christian Scholar Ravi Zacharias noted, “The key to understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes is the term UNDER THE SUN — What that literally means is you lock God out of a closed system and you are left with only this world of Time plus Chance plus matter.”
The answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted.
________
Hugh Hefner: A Life Wasted
Many hundreds of years ago there reigned a great and powerful King who had all the world at his fingertips. He had built a mighty Kingdom whose capital had become the center of world trade and his borders stretched from one corner of the known world to the next. Lacking in nothing, he truly had it all. A private zoo, a private navy, thousands of horses, immeasurable wealth, and no less than 1000 women to do with as he pleased.
In the end, the King reflected on all that he’d done in his life and concluded, “Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
I am of course describing King Solomon of the Bible and I quite suspect that the recently deceased Hugh Hefner’s life wasn’t all that different in the end.
Indeed, the above could just as well have described Hefner and the life he chose to lead. One that was filled with every pleasure the world can provide, particularly, loads and loads of women. Hefner spent the better portion of his early life building Playboy Magazine, a magazine that would go on to become the premier, “Gentleman’s Magazine” in the world. Featuring pornographic images of young, beautiful women alongside far less erotic editorials and articles covering everything from sports to politics. Hefner flat out stated in his later years that he wished to be remembered as a man who made an impact on sexual values.
In this, he certainly succeeded and not for the better. While Playboy was and is comparably tame next to some of the other magazines and pornographic content one can find on the internet today, it played a vital role in the mainstreaming of pornography and more casual sexual mores in American society. If your coworker is more comfortable talking about their sex life than their salary (and they are) then you have Hugh Hefner to thank. But if you’re also noticing a rising rate of depression amongst young women, increased confusion amongst young people about love and relationships, a declining marriage rate, and a rapidly growing pornography addiction epidemic with real world health consequences, then you also have Hefner to thank.
A major factor in Hefner’s and Playboy’s success was the way in which it marketed itself as a, “Gentleman’s Magazine.” Something read by not just refined men but by mature men. This impact has been felt throughout the world of so-called, “Adult Entertainment” and yet the science tells us that pornography such as that marketed by Hefner, actually has the impact of turning grown men into little more than children. Addiction works by affecting the brain’s reward centers and when we constantly choose to give into our desires in order to get that shot of dopamine running through our minds, we gradually weaken those portions of the frontal lobe responsible for willpower and self control. That is, when a man feels the desire to view pornography or crack open a playboy magazine, if he’s become addicted to it, then his willpower is going to gradually get weaker and weaker over time. Until, like a child, he has no impulse control whatsoever left.
In stark contrast with Solomon who, for all his many flaws, was incredibly wise; Hefner was deeply confused. Making such comments such as, “The major civilizing force in the world is not religion, it is sex.”
Notwithstanding the fact that it was religion which got man to advance beyond his primitive status as a hunter-gatherer, who sometimes might use force to get the sexual mates they’d prefer (quite civilized huh Hugh?) it seemed that for Hefner sex had become life itself. Indeed, it had become his own private religion in a way. Perhaps as a way to fill a gaping void he felt in his own life.
King Solomon eventually grew to hate his life, in spite of his material success and, as many these days tend to do, turned to an addiction in order that he might escape from the gaping emptiness that had grown within his heart. In Solomon’s case, this turned out to be sex. “But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;” (1 Kings 11:1)
Sounds a bit familiar huh? Almost like an eccentric old man who lives in a vast estate, wearing nothing but silk dressing gowns and constantly cavorting around with numerous scantily clad, if not outright nude, women. Perhaps, after his empire had been firmly established in the pop culture of America, old Hugh found that his vast wealth was not bringing him the happiness he imagined. It would certainly explain why he spent the final decades of his life focused entirely on surrounding himself with beautiful women and presumably bedding many of them. But, as Solomon so wisely observed in his own life, this was all but vanity. Just as a drug addict may discover that they can never have enough anymore to truly feel happy, old Hugh perhaps felt that he couldn’t get quite enough sex to be happy.
In the end, Hugh Hefner leaves a legacy just as we all do. Unfortunately, his appears to be that of accelerating the decline of the traditional family in America and the rise of sexual libertinism which has destroyed so many lives. In the end, Hugh Hefner will be, I think, remembered above all else as a man of great talent and vision who squandered his life away in the pursuit of empty vanities and who wrought great destruction on the culture of his day as he did so.
On June 6, 2016, I wrote a letter to Hugh Hefner that included these words:
In the article MAKE LOVE NOT WAR you asserted, “I had been promoting the basic premises that became the sexual revolution from the very beginning and from early 1960 with the Playboy philosophy…”
Hugh you are an universal man in a way since you have succeeded in business and are recognized throughout the world as a leader in the sexual revolution. However, have you found a lasting meaning?
Below are the comments of Francis Schaeffer on Solomon and the Book of Ecclesiastes:
Leonardo da Vinci and Solomon both were universal men searching for the meaning in life. Solomon was searching for a meaning in the midst of the details of life. His struggle was to find the meaning of life. Not just plans in life. Anybody can find plans in life. A child can fill up his time with plans of building tomorrow’s sand castle when today’s has been washed away. There is a difference between finding plans in life and purpose in life. Humanism since the Renaissance and onward has never found it and it has never found it. Modern man has not found it and it has always got worse and darker in a very real way.
We have here the declaration of Solomon’s universality:
1 Kings 4:30-34
English Standard Version (ESV)
30 so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. 33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. 34 And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
_________________________
Here is the universal man and his genius. Solomon is the universal man with a empire at his disposal. Solomon had it all.
Ecclesiastes 1:3
English Standard Version (ESV)
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
Solomon took a look at the meaning of life on the basis of human life standing alone between birth and death “under the sun.” This phrase UNDER THE SUN appears over and over in Ecclesiastes.
__________
The Christian Scholar Ravi Zacharias noted, “The key to understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes is the term UNDER THE SUN — What that literally means is you lock God out of a closed system and you are left with only this world of Time plus Chance plus matter.”
Hugh you have your sexual exploits just like Solomon did, but also you have thrown your efforts into your business too. Sadly Solomon also found the pursuit of great works in his labor just as empty. In Ecclesiastes 2:11 he asserted, “THEN I CONSIDERED ALL THAT MY HANDS HAD DONE AND THE TOLL I HAD EXPENDED IN DOING IT, AND BEHOLD, ALL WAS VANITY AND A STRIVING AFTER WIND, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”
Hugh you have been under the impression that all of your efforts have been an effort to pioneer something new. But Solomon noted in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
Hugh you remind me of Solomon because you are looking for lasting meaning in your life and you are looking in the same 6 areas that King Solomon did in what I call the 6 big L words. He looked into learning (1:16-18), laughter, ladies,luxuries, and liquor (2:1-3, 8, 10, 11), and labor (2:4-6, 18-20)…..HUGH do you agree with fellow universal man Solomon that UNDER THE SUN there is no advantage for man when he toils for the wind? Naked we all came into the world and naked we will leave.
Thank you again for your time and I know how busy you are.
Everette Hatcher, everettehatcher@gmail.com, http://www.thedailyhatch.org, cell ph 501-920-5733, Box 23416, LittleRock, AR 72221
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s life in pictures
Last updated 19:03, September 28 2017
REUTERS
Hugh Hefner shows off a giant birthday cake to celebrate his 75th birthday as seven playmates look on in Cannes in 2001.
Hugh Hefner has died at his home in aged 91, Playboy Enterprises said. We look back on the life of the men’s magazine mogul in pictures.
READ MORE:
* Playboy founder Hugh Hefner dead
* Obituary: Hugh Hefner, visionary editor who created Playboy magazine
* Hugh Hefner’s son Cooper Hefner issues statement
What is Hugh Hefner’s legacy?
Share your stories, photos and videos.
REUTERS
Hugh Hefner is joined by former girlfriends Barbi Benton (L), and Holly Madison, during a party at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California in 2005.
REUTERS
Hugh Hefner with a Playmate wearing skin-art of the 2002 Grammy Awards.
REUTERS
Hefner’s 79th birthday along with his girlfriends, Playboy Playmates (L-R) Kendra Wilkinson, Bridget Marquardt, and Holly Madison.
REUTERS
With wife Crystal Harris at Hefner’s annual Halloween Party at The Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2012.
FRED PROUSER/REUTERS
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner and girlfriends Anna Sophia Berglund, left, and Shera Bechard arrive at the Society of Singers annual dinner in Beverly Hills.
GETTY
Hugh Hefner in 2002.
REUTERS
Hugh Hefner poses with his bride Crystal Harris.
REUTERS
Hugh Hefner in his famous hat.
GETTY
Hugh Hefner and his Playboy bunnies.
REUTERS
The late Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner poses for a photograph in this September, 2003 photo.
REUTERS
Hugh Hefner , Playboy magazine founder, and Playboy Playmates and girlfriends arrive at the American Film Institute’s ‘AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Sir Sean Connery’ taping in June. 2006.
REUTERS
Hugh Hefner and his fiancee, Playboy Playmate Crystal Harris, at the opening night gala of the 2011 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood.
REUTERS
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner kisses girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson after their arrival for his 80th birthday party in a Munich club on May 31, 2006.
Featured artist is Jon Kessler
Jon Kessler was born in 1957 in Yonkers, New York, and lives and works in New York City. Kessler creates multimedia sculptures, which he describes as “chaotic kinetic installations” that critique our highly-surveilled world and dependence on technology. Blending a level of technological tools—virtual-reality headsets, smart phones, live-feed video monitors, robotic mannequins—with kitschy imagery, Kessler’s sculptures are at once playful and anxiety-inducing, tapping into the complex realities of contemporary life and the role that technology plays in it.
Links:
Artist’s website
@jon_kessler on Instagram
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