Blog - Proverbs 3:19

If you like this blog, then you will like Get Wisdom, Get Understanding which is Pastor Wagner's commentary series on the book of Proverbs which is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. Find out more here. For all the blogs in this series, click here: Proverbs Commentary. Proverbs 3:19 "The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. " (Pro 3:19)

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This verse should cause us to consider the importance of possessing and using wisdom in our daily lives. If our omnipotent and omniscient God employed wisdom and understanding to create and fashion the universe, then how imperative it is for us to make use of wisdom to guide us in our work, relationships, and life in general. The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth. God founded the earth by wisdom in two senses. Firstly, He founded it by Jesus Christ who is "the wisdom of God" (1Co 1:24). The scripture tells us that by the word of the Lord the heavens and earth were made (2Pe 3:5). Jesus Christ as the preincarnate Word, the second person of the Trinity, created all things including the earth using His spoken word.

1Jo 5:7 - For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. Joh 1:1-3 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. Eph 3:9 - And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: Gen 1:1-3 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth . . . And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Secondly, God also founded the earth by His wisdom (His wise planning and actions).

Jer 10:12 - He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

Wisdom is the "capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends" (OED). In order to create this incredibly complex planet and all life on it, God had to exercise sound judgment when choosing the means to bring it into existence. Every engineering marvel began as an idea conceived in the mind which was brought to fruition through wise planning and execution. The creation of the earth by God was no different. By understanding hath he established the heavens. God stretched out the heaven by His understanding.

Jer 51:15 - He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.

Understanding is "power or ability to understand; intellect, intelligence" (OED). To establish is "to render stable or firm; to strengthen by material support; to fix, settle, institute or ordain permanently, by enactment or agreement" (OED). To create the sun, moon, planets, and all of the innumerable stars, and then to stretch them out and engineer their courses so that they all stay in their circuits perfectly to provide light, heat, seasons, signs, and calendrical and navigational functions for humanity on earth would take an infinite level of intelligence.

Psa 147:4-5 - He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. Isa 40:26 - Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Just to count and name the innumerable stars would require an inconceivable level of understanding. How much more so to design and create them in their unfathomable complexity. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" (Rom 11:33-34)