The Value of Wisdom
2:1 My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
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 stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.
16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden [1] woman,
from the adulteress [2] with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed; [3]
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
The Value of Wisdom
2:1 My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
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 stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.
and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
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 stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.
16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden [1] woman,
from the adulteress [2] with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed; [3]
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
from the adulteress [2] with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed; [3]
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
4 comments:
My takeaway from reading Proverbs chapter 2 is from the verses below.
Proverbs 2:4
If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:
Proverbs2:5
Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.
My understanding and application
We spend most of our lives pursuing silver, gold and hidden treasure with excited hearts and at great expense and effort, to achieve our dream of a more
comfortable and secure life.
Yet we do not have such passion and desire to find the WISDOM OF GOD.
We need to realize that WISDOM WILL NOT FALL ON OUR LAP.
Wisdom is a REWARD to those who ASK and WORK for it.
Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that our just and jealous God CANNOT give His riches for sporadic, lazy, and slight effort; but He will ONLY reward zealous seekers.
Unless we have similar zeal and diligence, we will not obtain the WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE of the Lord.
EXCUSES OF THE YOUNG
When we were young we complain that we have no time to seek God.
We whine that we have no time as we were burdened with studies, examinations and romance.
We were too busy competing to achieve our objectives.
EXCUSES OF THE MIDDLE-AGED
Then came middle-age: we still have no time to seek God as we are now at the prime of our lives.
We were too busy with our career, work, relationships, deadlines, marriage, the raising of children and other related problems.
Not only is our time for prayers and reading the word limited, our thoughts are also divided as we are BURDENED WITH SO MANY THINGS.
EXCUSES OF THE GOLDEN AGED SENIORS
When we become seniors we are still not seeking God as we have not develop the habit earlier.
Because of the fact that we had not developed a relationship with the Lord, we feel empty and useless after retirement, especially when we are Christians BUT have NOT truly made Jesus Christ the centre of our lives.
HOW TRUE. MOST OF US ARE LIKE THIS, AREN’T WE?
When we were young, healthy, popular and in the prime of our lives, we wanted to LIVE FOR OURSELVES, but NOT FOR GOD.
For some, even after retirement we still try to get into other businesses like direct selling, tuition centers, insurance, etc. so that we can ‘still make a bundle’ or ‘occupy our time’.
We hardly think of God, of His divine plan for our lives, of helping the poor and of prayer and His Word.
We may or may not be aware of it, but these actions are strong implications that we are lord of our lives and that we want to take charge and be in CONTROL OF OUR DESTINY.
When our Lord Jesus spoke to Simon Peter in John 21:18,
“When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”
He was not just telling Peter about his future death on the cross.
He was also talking about PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL MATURITY.
The sign of true spiritual maturity (many of us just grow old but do not mature) is our willingness to submit and be LED BY ANOTHER (GOD) into experiences or places we do not want to go.
We need to move out of our COMFORT ZONES and be OBEDIENT to His Word.
ROAD TO WISDOM
Let us give ourselves to God and let Him use us while we are still in good working condition.
Let us not wait till our eyesight dims, our legs weaken, our ears become hard of hearing and our bodies are smitten with old-age sickness before we say, “Take me, Lord! I give myself to You!”
EFFECTIVE TODAY, LET US:
1.Read the Word of God with a TEACHABLE spirit and study it with PASSION and EFFORT.
2.DESIRE it fervently and seek help when you do understand it
3.HIDE the WORD in your HEART and MEDITATE upon it day and night
4.Give up some of your PLEASURE in order to MAKE TIME for God
5.Passionately APPLY the word in your lives by submitting to it and SPEAK of it to others daily
These are the five simple steps to understanding the fear of the LORD and finding the WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
No matter how old you are currently, you can still enjoy the promised of an “ABUNDANT LIFE” for the remaining years of your life if you were to start today.
Let the security, the warmth, the focus and the joy of your life come through PRAYER and the STUDY OF HIS WORD as you connect with the Lord, who loves you and who has given you life (Zoe).
Shalom, God bless and have a great day ahead
v4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
More on seeking after the things of God..
verse 4 says what is needed here is the zeal and diligence (as Bro David had pointed out)
to 'seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure'..v4
Imaging the way one is searching for hidden treasure.. it entails hard work and patience: the digging, the sweat, the pain etc.
But what is their chance of finding the real treasure?
Not every world treasure seeker find the treasure. Many are disappointed, many end in disaster or are killed..
But praise to our gracious God, this is not so with those who seek after the things of God, He has promised himself to be the prize.
v5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
Deu 4:29 .. you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Pro 8:17 .. and those who seek me diligently find me.
Can you find any comparison in this world? What kind of investment, what kind of treasure hunt is that? The bountiful return or the ultimate treasure is guaranteed to those who seek it diligently..
This is call grace, the covenanted love of God. It's out of this world.
Let us get excited and encouraged those who are weary,deceived by the infinitely inferior worldly treasure or distracted by the care of the world, to continue with zeal,diligence and joy on this glorious journey of seeking Him and His wisdom.
Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
v7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
Should the upright be fearful of man , their disapproval,censure or ridicule? Because he reveres God and God's word more than man and man's word? No!
the upright are without fear, like the lion. proverb 28:1b
Should the upright be concern about his future, that he will have to pay the price dearly e..g. for a missed promotion, an easy money or opportunity? Because he choose to obey God's word and to please God rather than himself or even his brothers or sisters? No!
No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11b
The real issue here is do we trust Him and His word more than what the world's and our fallen flesh's?. Do we know that He is a holy God and He has commanded us to be holy as He is holy? ( Leviticus 11:44, 1peter 1:16)
Do we know that by the virtual of washing in the precious blood of His dear son,our Lord Jesus, we have been set apart from the world to be His very own? That we are not of the world and we are not suppose to behave like the world? .(1 peter 2:9, roman 12:2, john 17:15-16)
The upright lack no wisdom because our text says that the all-wise God has stored up sound wisdom for them. .
What's more, as we choose to walk in integrity, the Lord shall not only be our provider (of sound wisdom and good things) but he has also pledged himself to be our protector:-
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity. v7b
For the Lord God is a sun and shield Psalm 84:11a.
Therefore, let us encourage one anothr to walk boldly in integrity.. becuase that is the wisest thing to do..
For the upright will inhabit the land,and those with integrity will remain in it (v21)
V7a he stores up sound wisdom for the upright..
Love wisdom? Our text says that the Lord stores it up for the upright. If you are the upright you have a share of it!
Firstly it is the Lord who gives wisdom.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives ..James 1:5a
The Lord gave Solomon wisdom. . 1king 5:12
For the Lord gives wisdom; Proverbs 2:6
Secondly, the wisdom He gives is sound and pure
..sound wisdom. V7
But the wisdom from above is first pure, ..James 3:17a
Thirdly, it is stored up and hence given generously..
And He gives generously ..James 1:5b
However, according to our text, that wonderful wisdom is only given to those who are upright (v7). Those who are upright are those who enter this bountiful chamber of sound wisdom through the door of the fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.. Proverb 9:10a
It is true that being born again will give us that uprightness and righteousness imputed by Christ. But are we continuously living our new life, walking in that up and rightly manner worthy of Him? Are we so comfortable and start to live carelessly?
Only those who revere God are able to withstand the fear of man, the deception of the world and the temptation of their own flesh in order to walk uprightly before Him.
And by being upright they obtain the sound wisdom God stores up for them. (v7)
Beloved brothers and sisters, let us resolve to be one of them who are bestowed with such blessed wisdom . ..
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