Proverbs 8:5-9,  O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.  For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.  All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.  They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

We have learned that the wisdom of God is everywhere.

It surrounds you as you work, as you walk in the streets, as you gaze up into space, as you lay your head down to sleep, whatever you do it is there.

And whatever you do, it is by God’s wisdom that you do it.

Every step that you take, every look of your eye, every breath that that is breathed, every sound that is heard is because of God’s wisdom.

Every scientist, when looking into a microscope or a telescope faces God’s wisdom head on.

There is no denying it and if anyone does deny it, he does it willfully with purpose and that purpose is to say "No God for me!"

In spite of what I see I will not be beholden to a God.

It is a willful decision for the evidence of the existence of God is overwhelming.

There were two letters to the editor of the Pensacola News Journal on Friday this week from men who have decided "No God for me."

According to the scriptures they are fools for they ignore all the wisdom that is in the world that points to a creator.

They ignore the heavens, they ignore the firmament, they ignore the fact that they have been given the ability to know God by the very life that they enjoy.

They are unique beings in that they have abilities that no other earthbound creation of God has and that is to know their maker.

No animal has been given the gift of reason, the gift of conscience, the gift of self and God consciousness.

The very fact that they can use their brains which are so complex, to formulate an opinion cries out the wisdom of God.

Every function that their bodies perform should remind them of their creator and yet they have chosen to deny the most obvious of conclusions and attribute it to their ability to reason.

But their reason should bring them to the same conclusion that the Psalmist wrote of in:

Psalm 139:14,  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

How can reason ignore such overwhelming evidence that God has given for his existence?

What kind of reason concludes that all that is seen is a product of chaos and chance.

True reasoning should conclude that all that is seen declares untold wisdom and demands a maker and that maker is the one who should receive our adoration and worship.

All that is seen is not there just to marvel at but it is there to point an honest seeker to the God who by wisdom brought all into being.

When God said that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork he was telling us that all the things that are made, are not made to glory in, but instead we are to glory in the maker of those things.

Wisdom is there to point the honest man to his creator which can only happen when a man comes to realize that he is a created being.

So the proverbs father calls to the simple and the fools in:

Proverbs 8:5,  O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

The simple man and the fool are to consider God’s wisdom that they may be of an understanding heart.

They are to hear the message that is proclaimed by all that is around them.

For God’s wisdom is pervasive and is there to direct the simple and the fool to God’s word.

The Jews did not believe the words of Jesus Christ.

What did he tell them to do?

He told them to believe his works.

John 10:37,  If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.  But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Now in this case Jesus was telling them to believe all the works that he had done in Israel.

But all the works of Christ include all of the creation and all that that entails for we know from the epistle to the Colossians that by Him, Jesus Christ all things consist, all things are held together.

As we read from Jeremiah last week, God has established the world by his wisdom.

God has spread his wisdom to every place and in every thing and has used wisdom in creating all things.

We are indeed to believe his word however the first step in belief may be in his wisdom for seeing his wisdom in creation will lead to believing his word.

How does a child believe his father’s word?

First of all he or she experiences his father’s works, that is the end of a switch for not obeying his father’s word.

The works simply are there to point to the word.

The works are the primer class of life but no one is to stay in kindergarten.

The father only wishes to do his works until the child believes his word.

After that no more concentration on his works. Mission Accomplished!

That is what the proverbs father is telling the simple and the fool.

They are both instructed to understand wisdom and to be of an understanding heart.

There is hope for the simple and the fools for the Lord always teaches unto profit for there is power and light in his wisdom.

Isaiah 48:17 says,  Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

We are taught that even though we follow the harlot there is pardoning mercy in God’s wisdom, there is converting power in the words of wisdom.

Isaiah 55:7 says,  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

The return is unto the Lord for that is where wisdom always points.

The father continues in this vein:

This first word is the important word of this proverb.

For unless this word "hear" is obeyed the excellent things will be of no avail.

The opening of the lips to right things will fall on deaf ears.

Jesus said first of all when he began to preach, He that hath ears to hear let him hear!

He knew that among the multitudes there were those who had ears to hear and there were those who did not.

Every church congregation is composed of both groups.

Every Sunday school class has members, some having ears to hear and some without ears to hear.

Caesar, when speaking to the Romans, said: Friends, Romans and

Countrymen, Lend me your ears.

Now some lent their ears to what he had to say but I can assure you that others kept back their ears from hearing.

But those who have ears to hear will only hear excellent things, only right things from Lady Wisdom.

George Washington Carver, the eminent agricultural chemist, the son of slaves, discovered 300 uses for peanuts, hundreds more uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes.

His discoveries of the excellent things of God’s creation, led to a revolution in southern farming.

His hearing ear that he lent to God heard the excellent things that God had hidden from the casual ear.

From his discoveries he educated the farmers to alternate the soil depleting cotton crops with soil enriching crops such as peanuts, peas, soybeans, sweet potatoes and pecans.

He refused to keep the secrets and to use them for personal gain, saying, "God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else?"

Dr. Carver said the same thing our proverbs say, Look about you. Take hold of the things that are here. Let them talk to you. You learn to talk to them.

He did this for he knew that wisdom spoke of excellent things, of right things and he learned the language of the peanut for wisdom speaks in many languages and wishes to talk with the one who has ears to hear.

In opposition to the beliefs of many scientists of his day, he saw God and science not as warring ideas.

How can God and true science be at war for God’s wisdom is in all true science.

Carver reasoned that the God who created the universe also created the rules by which it was governed.

For God’s creation is not capricious and is not framed by chaos and arbitrary actions.

In the natural realm everything conforms to God’s laws and performs according to God’s plans and program.

All technology depends upon this.

Every launch of the shuttle counts on the fixed laws of God in the natural realm.

If a certain thrust is used it will always result in a certain destination. In that we trust. In God we trust.

George Washington Carver believed that wisdom spoke of excellent things and that all he needed was a hearing ear to receive instruction.

For Dr. Carver, faith in Jesus Christ increased knowledge rather than competing against it.

The greater his faith increased, the more he desired to learn.

The more he learned, the greater his faith became for he knew he could depend upon his creator to keep things right and in accordance with a definite order.

And this is affirmed in the next passage from chapter 8.

God’s word is pure. There is never a time when God’s word is impure.

God’s laws of creation are pure.

They all function according to God’s wisdom and never deviate from prescribed patterns.

The shuttle depends upon this.

When you walk, when you sit down, when you sleep, you depend upon this constancy.

Both God’s word as it has been given to us, and God’s natural laws speak truth.

Both are given according to God’s wisdom and are always right.

They are within the realm of righteousness which means conformity to the divine law.

Man is outside this conformity for man has a fallen nature.

God’s word to man is designed to correct that for God has sent his son Jesus Christ to conform man to God’s righteousness.

All in the universe will conform to the divine law for God will not permit anything froward or perverse in his presence.

God’s natural law is in conformity with his divine will.

The law of gravity does not rebel against God’s will.

It performs as created all of the time and can be depended upon to perform for God all the time he desires.

This is God’s will for all of his creation.

Psalm 19:1,  The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.

God has provided every means to know him.

Every man, every woman can look up and see the works of God in the heavens.

He has provided as handiwork the sky, the planets, the sun, the moon, the stars.

He calls it handiwork.

Handiwork is something that we do in our spare time.

It almost sounds like hobby time.

That is what God thinks of the heavens and the firmament. Just handiwork.

But they are there to declare his glory.

They are there to reveal himself to the honest seeker.

The man who sees God’s wisdom all around will come to know God for God will reveal himself to him through His Son Jesus Christ.

For everything will be make plain to him.

George Washington Carver was an honest and humble seeker and God made things plain to him.

He opened his eyes to marvelous things for he was one who knew the One who had made those marvelous things.