Posted on 03/08/2020 3:49:20 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions” (Proverbs 8:12 KJV).
Prudence is just good judgment. To be prudent is to be careful about things—to judge things rightly (see devotion for 2/9/2019 for further discussion on the word) according to the Word of God, according to how it really is. It is calling a spade a spade, and so forth.
“. . . and find out knowledge of witty inventions,” God sees what is going on, He knows what’s behind of the inventions. He knows the motives behind all the things that people are trying to peddle to you. “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29 KJV).
“For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth” (Acts 19:24-25 KJV).
The idol makers, or Shriners, invented these statues to make people to worship them, and then they created a market where they sell these idols to the people. Here they made statues of Diana, a false goddess. That is, they make her a fake deity and then they make these little action figures so that they can tell the people that they need these to go to heaven. They tell them that they need to pray to these figures, and burn candles to them, and have them in their house. Now, we wouldn’t know anyone like this in our day and age, right? Some group today having a female goddess that they call the “Queen of Heaven.” Anyway, this lucrative business “brought no small gain unto the craftsmen,” it brought a big gain. By these statues the craft had their wealth.
Paul had been preaching against this stuff and telling them that Jesus saves, and that they didn’t need all this junk and candles, and bangles, and beads, and priests, and candles and altars to get to heaven and to be right with God. Paul basically bankrupted them and put their business in jeopardy. God knew all about their “witty inventions.”
Inventions in the Bible usually are in a bad context. “Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions” (Psalms 99:8 KJV). This was in context of the Baal worship, and then with God haters in Romans 1, “Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents” (Romans 1:30 KJV).
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