Wisdom as a Woman

Justin sits down for some one-on-one time with his 8-year old daughter and has a conversation about the importance of wisdom and how it's pictured as a woman in Proverbs 1.

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Hi there, my name is Justin Dobbs, and this is listen, my children, I'm a husband, I'm a dad, and I'm learning to do what a lot of you are doing, one of the most difficult but most important things I'll ever do, bring up my children to follow the father. Over the next six episodes, we're going to keep walking through the first five chapters of Proverbs, you, me and our kids. Listen, my children podcast is made possible by a donation from the Oliver family, we're thankful for their generous support of Appian medius content. If you or your organization is interested in helping to fund content like this, please contact us through our website at Appian Media dot org. Now, today, we're going to be joined by my daughter, Linden. Linden's eight. She's my second oldest and she likes a lot of one on one time with mom or dad. We're going to listen in on a conversation that Lyndon and I had in Proverbs one versus 20 through 33. So if you have a Bible, you can open that up with us as we talk about wisdom pictured as a woman. So we've been talking about Proverbs, right, and the Book of Proverbs, you know, the book is about it's about time to listen and be careful about what he chooses to be his wife. That is a lot about what probably about. And he's talking about like women who are. Kind of pulling him after evil and women who are leading him to good and you know how I can Proverbs 30 one, that's a really thrilling. You haven't gotten to that far yet, but there's a verse, you know, from Proverbs 30 one where it's like, what is that first? Proverbs 31. Beauty, calm is deceitful and has been. But a woman who hears the Lord is where the place is, right here in reverse. Yeah, you know that one. We've taught you that once a little. But in Proverbs one, he first begins to talk about a woman. And I'd like for you, if you don't mind. Can you read for me? Proverbs one, verse twenty three. Twenty two. Can you do that for me? All right. Resume classes allowed industry in the market. She was just a voice at the head of the noisy streets. She cries out at the entrance of the city gates, speaks out on a simple ones. You love being simple. Conference generate in this coffin in full knowledge. And then she says, if you turn it my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you. I will make my words known to you. We'll keep reading here in just a minute. But a proverb is when you take two things that you can lay them beside each other and you do that so it can help you see a new truth God wants us to have insight was to be able to see into the way things really are because things aren't always what they seem. Now, the insight he gives us here is he lays down wisdom next to a woman. Now, it doesn't tell us here, but suppose you think through this with me, why would Solomon want his son to think about wisdom as if she were a woman? Because an attraction attraction. Yeah, guys kind of like girls. And so here, if if wisdom is like a woman, then maybe someone will go, hey, I'm going to listen to her. And that's what Sam is hoping, is that Sam and son will listen to wisdom. Now, one of the things we see here, though, is where is wisdom? Wisdom? Look at verse, verse twenty one. The head of the street. OK, so there are streets that come this way and they're streets that go this way and where they meet, a lot of traffic comes in. Now, back in these days, it wasn't like cars and buses and there was like people walking through. And as they're coming through, she's right there where people can find her and she's saying, hey, and she's going to visit you. Yes. No, I'm talking to you. Is she hard to find? It's not really hard to find she wants to be found and she's crying out, but there are some people look at verse twenty two, you say, I don't want to listen to that. And there are three words that are used to describe them. There are the simple. There are the scoffers and then was the third one. There are definitely the rules who hate knowledge so simple golfers and fools, and what they're doing is they're saying, I don't need that wisdom either. And wisdom saying, you know, listen, what you got, you can make them can only be seen by those who want to think they can, only this wisdom can only be found by people who really want to find her. Now, wisdom is trying to get them comfortable. I've got good stuff for you. And they're saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Now, let me keep reading here, verse twenty four, and let's find out what happens to them when they say, I don't need that verse. Twenty four, she says, because I've called and you refuse to listen. I have stretched out my hand and no one has heated because you've ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm in your calamity comes like a whirlwind. When distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call upon me. But I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose. The fear of the Lord would have none of my counsel and despise all my reproof. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their way and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them with whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster. So when they don't listen to wisdom, what happens them no wonder they won't. They won't find her. And look at verse twenty seven terror calamity, which is like disaster distress. It's like she's at the that street corner and she's saying a storm is coming, a storm is coming. They're like, I don't see any storms. And all of a sudden here comes a storm and they're going to listen and they're being blown away. And she's saying, yeah, you should have listened. She doesn't mind laughing at us when we don't listen. Now, there's a there's something is hard here. And it's not just hard for you. It's hard for me, because wisdom is for everybody. It's not just for young people. For everybody. But wisdom, correct, says there's a word that's used here called reproof in verse twenty five, reproof now reproof is when you're doing something wrong and you need correction. You like to be corrected. What do you what do you feel like when you're being corrected, in charge, somebody else is in charge? Yeah, so like if one of your brothers or your sister. Yeah. What about even if mommy and daddy correct you, how do you feel about that? And kind of different because I know you think, OK, so you're learning that if mom and dad correct me, it's really for your good, right. But it still doesn't feel good, right? Doesn't feel good for me either, and so I've got some options, what I can do is I can say, OK. I'll listen and I'll change, or I can say no. No, I'm right, I don't need to change and what's that called when I say I'm right, I don't need to change. It's being stubborn. I'm being proud. I'm saying I don't need to do anything different. I'm big. I'm great. Well. What fools and scoffers and simple people forget this verse twenty nine. They forget to choose the fear of the Lord. That means the fear of the Lord. It means you listen to God and now you listen to God, you obey him. It also means that you treat him like he's the big, awesome one. And sometimes we want to treat ourselves like we're big and awesome. And if I'm big, an awesome, I don't need to change. But if God's big and awesome and I treat him like he's great, then I do need to change because I do miss. You do, too, right? So wisdom is saying, hey, listen, and I'm going, oh, oh, there's a storm coming. Ok, and here's the thing is a wonderful promise. Look at verse thirty three. She says, whoever listens to me will dwell secure. Liberties without dread of disasters. Here comes a storm and the wise people go. And they'll be safe. If you listen to wisdom, you'll be safe right next to my house. Yeah, yeah, Jesus talks about that, doesn't he? Build your life on the rock. Matthew seven. So here is wisdom. If we listen to wisdom, the storms of life won't blow us away, make sense what you think about that? No, never explained that to me, but you've been going through Proverbs together, which is really good. How about how about we pray about that together? Because every time we look at Proverbs, we learn something new. How about we pray together about it? And you and I both learn from this. OK. Father, thank you for Lyndon and thank you for your word. We all need this wisdom. Please bless us and keep us safe from the storms of life, help us to change. Help us to be humble and to see where we're wrong. Be willing to admit where we need to turn back to you, Father. Help us to listen to correction. It doesn't feel good, but father, you are the one who's great. You're the one who's true. And and let it be that you are the rock and the anchor in our line always coming back to you, these blessed Lyndon and me as we continue to grow up to listen close to you, to pay attention to wisdom. In the name of Jesus, your son, we pray and. A. Thanks for joining Linda and me for that discussion in Proverbs Chapter one, it's really special for us to be able to talk about that, and I hope that special for you and your family. As you talk about that, what we're seeing here is the fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And when you start with that most true truth, that God is great, that he's awesome, then you're well on your way to learning wisdom, wisdom, something that we can choose. We can we can choose to listen to wisdom or we can we can choose to live foolishly and wisdom will laugh at us. So question for you is, do you listen? How do you feel about being corrected when you don't do well and someone's trying to tell you trying to instruct you in doing right? Maybe that's something that you and your family can talk through and parents, maybe some things that you saw here that would be helpful to you. Let me share a couple of things from this one, from this conversation with Linda. And first of all, Linden is a she's a young lady in the making. And for me, as a dad of who I think is a beautiful little girl, that's a real challenge for me to think through. How do I help her? One minute she's bubbly and energetic and effervescent, and the next is she is quiet and reserved, almost stiff. I got to get in there and I got to be her dad and connect with her, just like we talked before about me connecting with Amos. Six year olds are different than eight year olds and an eight year old on the cusp of womanhood. It's it's a challenge. So dads, let me start here by encouraging you to be present in the lives of your daughters. It's super important for little girls to feel that connection with their dads. I'm learning how to show Lindon affection in a way that she feels because I want her to feel safe to open up with me so that I can teach her wisdom so that I can guide her and help her. Besides all the research that shows just how important it is for dads to connect with their children, God tells us that dads are responsible for nurturing their children, for instructing their children. You can see that in Ephesians Chapter six. And besides a responsibility, it means that God knew that it would be best for dads to teach, to guide, to lead their children. That means little girls to so. Well, that's not natural for me. I don't really know well how a little girl's mind works. I need to be there and I need to try hard to connect. And that means a lot of intentional one on one time. I know she needs Dad, so I want to encourage you dads to connect with your daughters. And secondly, let me talk to the moms here. Sometimes dads are working hard to connect with the kids. Sometimes they're not. And experience tells me that sometimes dads aren't even present. There's just not a dad around. And so it can feel overwhelming for moms to try to connect with their children all on their own. I hope you heard it. Linden referred to a study that she has with her mom, with my wife, Lindsay. Every week, Linden and Lindsay sit down to have a study to some happens are studying proverbs right now. But that means that she's connecting on multiple levels in the family. That means that the kids aren't just getting instruction from one direction. They're getting it from a lot of different directions. And that's really important. That means that moms, you're helping your children to learn to put their confidence in you. They already put their confidence in you. In fact, you probably feel the weight of that more than anyone. You probably say maybe get tired of hearing mom all day long, but use that use that that that need that a child has for mom and developed that into an opportunity to lead them into spiritual growth. It's not just mom, I need your help in the bathroom. I need your help in the bedroom. I need your help in the kitchen. But Mom, I need your help knowing about God. And they may not ask for it, but use that built in need to lead them to lean well on God, but also to lean on dad. Some dad's going to need your help. And so my wife helps me to do that. She points the kids to me and then both of us work together to point our children to the father. You've got a really important job. Both of you do moms and dads to help your kids, to see the father is the one that they're following as the one who will hold their affections. So I hope listening in on that conversation can help you a little bit is. As you lead your kids. Now, next time, we'll be talking with Alija. He's my 10 year old son, and he can handle a bigger chunk of text and a few more points at a time. So I'm looking forward to that conversation with you.