Proverbs 3:20

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about wisdom and life:

Proverbs 3:20 (NASBStr)

By His knowledge the deeps were broken up

And the skies drip with dew.

Proverbs 3:20 (ESV)

by his knowledge the deeps broke open,

and the clouds drop down the dew.

To better understand this proverb we need the one written prior to it:

Proverbs 3:19 (NASBStr)

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth,

By understanding He established the heavens.

Solomon is in the middle of describing the benefits of wisdom in the life of the one who is declared righteous by God.   He has listed benefit after benefit in the first verses of chapter three.   However, out of no-where, Solomon gives us this description of wisdom.  He does so by declaring wisdom is so important in the life of the believer that we need to know it was originally with God at the beginning of creation.  He will fully elaborate on this theme at length in chapter eight of the book, but here he simply gives us these two verses.  He ties together (and will many times) the three qualities of wisdom, understanding and knowledge.   All three were part of God's work in creation.   Here, in this proverb, he tells us that it is via wisdom, understanding and knowledge that God brings us water; from beneath and above.    In Genesis 7 we read that in Noah's day God opened up the deeps and the windows of heaven to begin the flood.   We are not told why Solomon singles out water (v. 20) as the sole example of this truth, that wisdom was at creation (v. 19).   But, apparently it is important to God for us to know that.  The knowledge of how God created the world and that the majority of it and man is made up of water, may be important.   When they send robots to the moon and Mars they are looking for water.  That tells them life could be sustained there.   The importance of rain and the springs of water, the wells of water can't be understated.   It is by wisdom God did that.   When we pursue wisdom for our day to day lives we are pursuing the essence of what God used in His creation of the most basic and needful elements of life.    When we see the floods rise and the rain fall we need to marvel at the wisdom of God.  And, if we ask, we can have that same wisdom, freely.  Jesus starts out His ministry in John with the story of the woman at the well.  There He claims:

John 4:13-14 (ESV)

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”