The ancient Hebrews began their accounting of the universe in this way, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”. In recent history, this has been turned into a debate about our physical universe: Where did everything come from?  How long did it actually take?  Who, if anyone, can I blame for mosquitos and malaria, earthquakes and ear infections?

But to make this ancient account about the physical universe only, about soil only, about the measurable only, is to miss the deeper intent of the creation poem.  Since this is a poem, it is meant to be read like one: paying attention to its rhythms, its content, and its spaces.  A poem is not less true; it is more true.  And it requires reading deeper into the words—and spaces between the words—to capture the meaning that dry information can’t possibly get at.

Perhaps fearing that later readers might miss the depth and breadth of this Genesis poem, later poets, writing a collection known as the Proverbs, commented on this “beginning” in Scripture, 

“The LORD brought me (Wisdom) forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be….before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth.  I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep…”

The word for “first” here in Proverbs is the Hebrew word reshiyth, which is the same word that is translated “beginning” in Genesis.  The poets of the Proverbs taught that before the measurable realities of the world were created, the immeasurable realities were set in place: what they called “wisdom”.

So that one ancient commentator translated the beginning of Genesis in this way, “With wisdom did God create…”

The Hebrew Scriptures themselves echo this, “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations….”

In other words, the ancient writers of Scripture suggested that before rocks and trees and cranes and gorillas and humans and Himalayas, there was Wisdom.

Wisdom, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, was older than dirt.

It was, in fact, what the dirt was founded upon.

This ancient tradition taught that there was an immeasurable way of being in the world that was just as real as the measurable ground that they walked upon. In fact, in many ways, it was the ground that they walked upon.

Which is to say this: there is a way to things.  It is why the most visionary companies, the ones that outlast their founders, are those that do not have profit as their bottom line.  It is why the Civil Rights movement was able to move people forward through sit-ins in a way that the Civil War could not through muskets.  It is why a news story on npr.org today suggested that the solution to anger is not retribution and release, but kindness and generosity. 

Perhaps we could say that the way of wisdom is as (or more!) important than the law of gravity.  

Ignoring either can be costly.

But this Way, this direction, takes longer. It isn’t a straight line, doesn’t always make sense, doesn’t always “get results.”  Because what is most true about the way things work is rarely easy to see or even measure.

Spirit takes longer to perceive than soil.

This is why how we do something matters as much as what we do.  We can say the right thing in the wrong way and make a mess of everything.  We can do the right thing in the wrong way and suddenly it is no longer the right thing.

The ancient Hebrews remind us that before we post that comment, before we have that conversation, before we take that action, before we make that decision, we should consider how we are going to say or do it.  With what attitude.  With what tone.  With what motivation. With what timing.

With what wisdom.