¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. ¹⁹The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

On the surface, the teaching of wisdom in Proverbs can seem repetitive and redundant, even mundane—the book has no story plot line that entertains like a novel. But when the actual proverbial statements begin in chapter ten, they each contain a plot twist at a microcosm level: the way that seems right to the fool who rejects wisdom turns out to be wrong and foolish, which goes to cement that person’s foolishness. In other words, proverbs are often built on irony, and the irony escapes the fool.

The proverbs are nitty-gritty, each usable as standalone, applicable truths for the details of life. But they can only gain traction in a person’s life if he or she buys into the overarching concept of wise living. Otherwise, the book remains only a pragmatic list of self-help advice. We know it is more than that; it is a guide to becoming a wise person. And that involves grasping hold of the big picture of the nature of wisdom as it relates to our being created in God’s image.

Being wise and doing wise are reciprocal; a wise person will do wise things, and those wise things increase a person’s wisdom. But how does the cycle begin? We have already read, “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom ….” But why would a person desire to acquire wisdom in the first place? It must come from the heart, from faith, a reconnecting with the image of God in us that was lost through sin. In other words, wisdom is not just practical advice for successful living; it is a moral and a spiritual issue!

Therefore, our passage links wisdom with righteousness, and foolishness with wickedness. The pathways of life we may choose are juxtaposed and illustrated with a lightness/darkness motif. Wisdom/righteousness is “like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” This is a process of growing toward fully seeing reality as God sees it. Foolishness/wickedness is “like darkness.”

In the beginning, the first thing God did was to separate out the light and the darkness (Gen. 1-4). God created light; darkness was already there. Darkness is not a thing that was created, but it was the absence of a thing; darkness is what you have when there is no light. Apart from cosmological significance, there is a deeper meaning to this. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God by eating the forbidden fruit, darkness pressed its case against the light God had created. That is the dilemma of humanity. And that is why God sent Jesus, His Son, into the world:

In [Jesus] was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:4–5)

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:1)

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

So, true wisdom is sourced in the love of God, which goes against our natural, sin-fallen love of darkness. Only by faith in the Light can we become wise. We need to walk wisely in the love of Christ, for He is the Light of the world.

Lord, I desire to grow in faith in and love for the Lord Jesus Christ, so that I might see and act in wisdom, reasserting the image of God in my life.