Eternal Light

By Debbonnaire Kovacs, posted Sept. 9, 2015

For a devotion this week I thought I’d share a text most Adventists are not familiar with. This is a passage from the Apocryphal book Wisdom of Solomon, very reminiscent of several early chapters in Proverbs, where Wisdom is also personified as a woman. You may recognize the last line—it is quoted in the familiar song, “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” but is not actually found in the Protestant Bible at all. It is from this passage. I think this is a beautiful passage, and recommend some quiet meditation on its principles.

 Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1

For wisdom is a reflection of eternal light,

a spotless mirror of the working of God,

and an image of his goodness.

Although she is but one, she can do all things,

and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;

in every generation she passes into holy souls

and makes them friends of God, and prophets;

for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.

She is more beautiful than the sun,

and excels every constellation of the stars.

Compared with the light she is found to be superior,

for it is succeeded by the night,

but against wisdom evil does not prevail.

She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,

and she orders all things well.