“The Lord acquired me at the beginning of his creation, before his works of long ago. I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began. I was born when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water. Before the mountains were established, prior to the hills, I was given birth—before he made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth. I was there when he established the heavens, when he laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean, when he placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed out, when he set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate his command, when he laid out the foundations of the earth. I was a skilled craftsman beside him. I was his delight every day, always rejoicing before him. I was rejoicing in his inhabited world, delighting in the children of Adam.” (Proverbs‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬-‭31‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

One of the more common slang words for something old is to refer to it as “OG.” That’s technically short for “original gangster.” The phrase came out the urban hip hop culture as a way to establish something as authentic and real. Today it gets thrown around all over the place as a way simply to refer to things that are old or otherwise authentic. Well, when it comes to creation itself, it’s hard to imagine something more authentic and original than wisdom. Let’s talk about how Solomon describes it here.

When the psalmist proclaims that God’s works are wonderful, he wasn’t just blowing smoke at us. About a century and a half ago, Charles Darwin released his grand theory of evolution. In the decades since, his work has been elevated to a status that has functionally become a religion in many cultural circles in the Western world. If you aren’t willing to spout Darwinian shibboleths correctly, there are places where you cannot get a job. It has become the kind of religion that critics often accuse (and not always incorrectly or without due evidence) Christianity of being.

But Darwin devised his theory at a time when our understanding of the nature of the world and the life in it was incredibly rudimentary. Of course, we didn’t think that at the time. In the heady intellectual days of the late 19th and early 20th centuries our confidence that was understood all there was to understand about the world was disturbingly high. We figured we were well on our way to solving all the world’s problems with the tools of science, and finally achieving a worldwide utopia was only just around the corner.

Fast forward to today, and we can rightly laugh at the simplicity of their conceptions of life as compared with ours. We know more about the world and its workings now than they could have even imagined then. The theory Darwin proposed would not even get a moment’s worth of consideration today if it was proposed fresh and in its original form. And the reason for this is that life is simply far too complex for what Darwin envisioned. From the vast quantities of information contained within the DNA molecule to the breathtaking fine tuning present in almost every aspect of creation itself, the notion that the world was not designed with great intelligence and care by some sort of a divine being is becoming a less rational one all the time.

The increasingly unavoidable truth about this world is that it was designed with wisdom. Short God Himself, there is nothing more “OG” in all of creation than wisdom. “The Lord acquired me at the beginning of his creation, before his works of long ago. I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began.”

We have to be careful here with the language Solomon uses. Remember that this is figurative writing. It should not be taken literally. That doesn’t mean we don’t take it seriously, but we should not imagine here that wisdom is some sort of created thing that existed independently of God. The purpose of the language here is simply to communicate that wisdom was there at the beginning. This is because wisdom is part of God’s character. It flows from His character.

In describing wisdom as being acquired what Solomon means is that God started to engage the wisdom that was fundamental to His very existence as He began the process of creating the world from out of nothing. Every molecule of creation was put into place with the guidance of the wisdom of God. And the more we learn about the world and its working, the more we ate coming to see just how stunningly true this is.

Solomon goes on here to emphasize the very ancient nature of wisdom, how it preceded creation itself. I love the origin language here; this vision of creation when it was a blank canvas on which the master artist began to add color and life and variety in all its wonderful forms; when He began to organize and structure things so that life could thrive. Listen to these words. Read them aloud or find an audible Bible to listen to then read for you.

“I was born when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water. Before the mountains were established, prior to the hills, I was given birth—before he made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth. I was there when he established the heavens, when he laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean, when he placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed out, when he set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate his command, when he laid out the foundations of the earth.”

The image that forms in my mind here is from The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis when the two children accidentally end up in Narnia at the moment of its creation. It is nothing but a broad, flat plain, and although it is not pitch black, neither is there any light. And then the great lion, Aslan, roars, and the sun first begins to rise. Mountains begin rising out of the ground. Trees and shrubs and bushes burst into existence. Suddenly there are hills and rivers and streams and forests exploding into life everywhere they look. Life itself is arriving at the command of its King.

Can you imagine being there as the sea burst forth from the ground and its limits were laid by the God who called it out from its source and who is able to command it and it obeys. Indeed, when Jesus commanded the wind and the waves to stop their storming that wasn’t something unusual for them to hear. The disciples were absolutely flabbergasted in that moment at how someone could even conceive of doing such a thing, but creation was not caught off guard. It was simply obeying the well-known voice of its Master. When the water molecules of the Sea of Galilee came together to hold dry the feet of Jesus, they were merely obeying the will of the one they would not dare to swallow into their depths.

Yet as much as we might marvel at creation on a grand scale—and we should—the wisdom God brought to the design of life is on a whole other level. The sheer depth of detail God built into the life teeming on this planet is stunning in every way. And we sit at the absolute pinnacle of it all. We are creatures unlike any others God made. And this is all the result of Wisdom’s guiding hand. “I was a skilled craftsman beside him. I was his delight every day, always rejoicing before him. I was rejoicing in his inhabited world, delighting in the children of Adam.”

Do you hear the sheer exuberance in these words. God didn’t create the world and everything in it because He had to. It was an act of love and joy. God delighted in making the things He called into existence. He rejoiced in each one. And the more crowded creation became, the louder the echoes of His rejoicing grew until the whole thing was a cacophony of praise for the wisdom and grace, the power and might, and knowledge and skill of the Creator.

When we chase after godly wisdom, it is this very source we are seeking to tap into. We are working with the very one who guided God’s hand throughout the creation process. When that is the path we are walking, we really can’t go wrong. So pursue wisdom. You’ll absolutely be glad that you did.