#22 - Seeking Wisdom.
Pause
Lord, you are my protection and my guide. Help me to have eyes and ears to perceive what you are showing me.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. - Proverbs 9:10-11
Teach
Proverbs has a beautiful way of layering ideas and concepts on top of each other to invite the reader to a state of reflection.
Let’s explore the first half of Proverbs chapter two and see how God is inviting us to take actions that will lead to aligning our lives with Him.
1My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones. - Proverbs 2:1-8
Examine the language used in verses 1-3. Calling out and crying aloud is strong and serious language; using those words conveys urgency and seriousness. The setting of chapter 2 is that of a father speaking to his son, and in this section he is making sure his son knows the gravity of wisdom for his life.
Calling out and crying aloud not only conveys urgency but also is an invitation to action. Wisdom is something we should be intently and reverently pursuing. We are asked to look at the world around us, become aware of what is going on, and store the insight that God is showing us.
Moving to verses 4-5 we get another emphasis of the seriousness and value of wisdom. If you knew there was hidden treasure somewhere close to you, how hard would you search for it? If you knew riches were hiding around you, would you not make it a priority to find them? This is the invitation to live a fruitful life, to stop and search for the wisdom God has put in front of us with the same gravity that we would a hidden treasure.
Verses 6-8 then loop us back, like chapter 1 does, to the source and benefits of wisdom. That God is the source and revealer of this mysterious wisdom that surrounds us in creation, and abiding in that wisdom is like a shield of protection over out lives.
9Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you. - Proverbs 2:9-11
Verses 1-8 build a foundation for us to understand verses 9-11. When we accept the words of wisdom and live a life that searches out God like we would hidden treasure, we can rest in a peace that only God can give. Continually pursuing God and his wisdom continually forms a better and better lens for how we perceive what is happening around us, and what actions to take.
The start of verse 9 intentionally starts with ‘Then you will understand what is right and just and fair.’ Living a wise life is a product of aligning our hearts with God and leaning on him for understanding instead of basing our values on our relative subjective experiences.
We make hundreds of choices a day, most are small, but they compound on top of each other. Verse 11 gives us comfort in how to walk through life. When we genuinely seek God and grow in our understanding of who he is, we can better align our choices with his plan for our lives and the security those choices build in our souls.
Action
Continue to move slowly through Proverbs this week. Seek God and his character as you read, and pause often in prayer to ask God for wisdom and understanding as you read.