Wise House Building

Proverbs 24:3,4              

3 By wisdom a house is built,
    and by understanding it is established;
4 by knowledge the rooms are filled
    with all precious and pleasant riches.

Housebuilding takes skill and knowledge. Not just carpentry and drywalling, plumbing and electrical work, but also where things go in the house. So that the bathroom does not come off the living room. So that the kitchen and the dining room are close together. And so, it goes.

Putting things in their “proper” place in a house also takes skill and understanding, setting up a room so that it is welcoming and works. What items should be brought out and displayed in a way that is attractive and not cluttered, this also needs to be thought through.

But the writer of Proverbs is not really thinking about building houses, the writer is thinking about how we build our lives, the writer sees our lives as houses. Life-building takes even more skill to build than does building a house. Determining what to fill our lives with takes wisdom and understanding and knowledge – in order to put into our lives things that are worthwhile and good.

Wisdom and understanding and knowledge are gifts from God. God desires to give them to us as gifts to be put to work in building our lives and filling our lives. In the life of Jesus Christ, we have an example of a life lived in the wisdom and understanding and knowledge that God wishes to give to all of us. The Holy Spirit comes to us bringing these gifts, that our lives may be rich with the knowledge and understanding and wisdom of God. 

Jesus the master-builder comes to make his home in our lives, that our lives might be signs of God’s wisdom and understanding and knowledge.

PRAYER:

Lord God, as we prepare this Advent for the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ. May we open our lives to be shaped and formed by your wisdom and understanding and knowledge, so that our lives may be filled with the precious and pleasant presence of Jesus Christ, our example and our Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.