For she goeth about seeking such as are worthy of her, sheweth herself favourably unto them in the ways, and meeteth them in every thought.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Solomon 6:16 Go To Wisdom of Solomon 6
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
God, through his hidden power, impresses an impetus on the entire universe of his creatures. And it is precisely in virtue of this impetus that every creature is set in motion"when the angels carry out God"s orders, when the stars complete their orbit; when the winds blow now in one direction, now in another, when the abyss is stirred up by rushing waters and by condensed, swirling vapors in the air; when the vegetable kingdom germinates and its seeds develop, when animals are born and pass their lives according to their proper instincts; and when the wicked are allowed to torment the righteous. Thus God unfurls the ages that he had rolled up, so to speak, in the primordial creation. Those ages would not have followed their course if he who created them were to cease his providential government over them. The beings that grow and are born in time should teach us how we are to think of these things. Not without reason, in fact, does Scripture say that Wisdom "benevolently appears" to those who love her, "in their ways, and meets them with her unfailing providence." Moreover, we should not listen to those who think that divine providence governs only the highest regions of the world, those on the outer edge of (that is, above) our atmosphere, which is denser; but that the lowest part"the earth and the sea, and the earthly atmosphere that is closer and thus permeated with humidity because of evaporation from the land and the sea (and in which winds and clouds are formed)"is rather ruled by chance, agitated by random movements. Against these the psalm speaks that, after having praised the heavenly beings, turns its attention to those of earth and says, "Praise the Lord of the earth, you sea monsters and all you deeps. Fire and hail, snow and ice, storm winds which fulfill his command."
