seeking wisdom – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Esteeming wisdom

In this passage, Solomon recalls the words his father David told him when he was a boy, words that apparently left a deep impression on him. David told him,

Lay hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands and you will live.

Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them.

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Esteem her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.

She will set a garland of grace on your head
and present you with a crown of splendor. (Proverbs 4:4–9)

These words so impressed Solomon that when God offered to give him whatever his heart desired, Solomon didn’t ask for wealth, power, or any of the other things you’d expect a king to ask for.

Instead, he asked that God would give him wisdom. And God happily granted it to him.

In the same way, God will grant wisdom to anyone who asks and seeks after it. James wrote,

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

The question then becomes, how much do we esteem wisdom in our lives? Do we actively seek it? Particularly in his Word?

How often do you spend time in his Word? For many Christians, it’s once a week on Sunday, while taking a fast on the Word of God the rest of the week.

Then as we face situations in life, we find that we don’t have the wisdom to deal with them, and we wonder why things so often go wrong in our lives.

That’s why Solomon said,

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)

But it’s not enough to merely learn what wisdom says. We need to follow it as well. James says in verses 6–8 of chapter 1,

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Some people ask God for wisdom, but when they receive it, they doubt that it’s really the best way. And so they just go on doing things their own way.

James says that type of person will never find stability in his life. Instead, he’ll always be tossed around by his circumstances and the opinions of others.

But when we truly esteem wisdom, when we seek it and then follow it, Solomon tells us we will find peace, stability, and honor.

How about you? Do you esteem wisdom in your life?

Softening our hearts

In my last post, I noted the dangers of hardening our hearts toward God and his wisdom. But in this chapter, it talks about what happens when we soften our hearts.

Solomon writes,

My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:1–6)

What does it mean to soften your hearts to God and his Word?

It means to:

Accept what he says. To say “Yes, I agree that this is good and right.”

But more than that, it means to…

Store what he says in your heart.

Too often, we hear something, we agree with it, and then swiftly forget about it.

It’s not enough to hear and agree. We need to meditate on God’s Word and make it a part of our lives. We also need to…

Turn our ear to wisdom.

When God is speaking through his Word or through a pastor or even through a friend, we need to have a heart that’s open to it.

Too often, and I admit I do this too, we just say, “Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. But it doesn’t apply to me.”

But a softened heart lets wisdom in and lets wisdom transform it. How does wisdom transform a heart?

By a person applying themselves to understanding. By asking, “What does this mean for me? How does it apply to my life?”

We need to take the general wisdom of God and apply it to our everyday lives. What’s more, we need to…

Call out for insight and cry out for understanding.

In other words, we should ask God to give us the insight and understanding to his words that we need.

When we don’t know how to apply his words to our lives, we shouldn’t just cast them aside, saying they’re irrelevant to our lives. We should ask him.

And when we do, Solomon says,

The LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (6)

More than that, when we commit ourselves to wisdom and doing things his way, Solomon says we will find victory, and God will watch over us as we walk through this life.

His wisdom will protect us from falling in with wicked men (and women) and keep us away from the adulteress woman (and man).

In short, while the wicked will pass away because they rejected wisdom, we will find life.

How about you? Do you have a heart softened toward God and his wisdom? Are you seeking it actively? Are you applying it to your life?

Because when you do, that’s when you find a life worth living.