Proverbs 2:1-5 - My son, if thou wilt receive my
words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto
wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou cry after
knowledge, and lift up thy voice for understanding; If thou seek her as silver,
and search for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of
the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs is the Book of Wisdom; it contains
practical and down-to-earth counsel for life’s issues and challenges. So many
people of our day feel like the world owes them something, they somehow have acquired
a sense of entitlement. This portion of scripture knocks the basis for that
thinking right out from under them. While it is true that babies are born into
this world and should be given certain rights and privileges, such as food and
clothing and loving care, it is also true that those very same babies must grow
up to become contributors and innovative helpers, not just recipients of the
benefits of being born in a free country.
Receive my words - My son, are you listening to your father? Your
father is one who has lived ahead of you and who has faced many things that you
will indeed one day face yourself. Are you wise enough to understand that there
is an opportunity for you to benefit from your father’s experience and wisdom?
The heart of any true father is to impart to his son what he needs, to give him
skills that will help him navigate through life with his own family someday. I
am a father but are you a son? Can you receive my words? Are you open to learn
from me? If you will receive and welcome my words, those very words will open
up to you new and innovative ways of thinking about old and persistent problems.
Hide my commands - My son, you must position yourself to
receive my words and also to hide my commandments within you. Do not be afraid
of commands. Commands come from a higher authority and are not to be debated;
they are to be obeyed. The commands of a father are given with the children in
mind. They are not given in order to benefit the father but, they are the
guardians of the children. Our only protection is obedience. Hide my commands,
do not boast of your obedience but simply obey quietly and hide this between
you and your father.
Incline your ear - What are your inclinations? Which way do
you lean in your views of life? If we are inclined towards wisdom, half the
battle is already won. If something leans a certain way, then a little push in
the same direction and momentum and gravity take over. We must incline our ears toward
wisdom, that is, we must have an attitude that is ready to hear regardless of
what it may require of us. Is my ear ready to hear what it needs to hear in
order for true and lasting change to come? That is a big problem. We say that we
want to change but then we resist the words and the counsel that we are given
because it requires too much, so we think. If we hear things that we think are
too hard then we are not inclining our ears to wisdom. Just do your part first;
incline your ear and lean towards wisdom and let God embrace you and take care
of the results.
Apply your heart - We live in a world of information without
application. We seem to think that if we have read the book or taken the course
then we know what we are talking about, however, that is definitely not the
case. Who really knows their subject; the man who takes the course for several
years or the man who has been applying his energy and time to work in the same
field of expertise? One has head knowledge and the other has life knowledge. One
has an untested concept and the other has proven experience. I am in no way
undermining the value of education and going to school to learn, I am simply
saying that the time comes when we must apply in the boardroom what we have
learned in the classroom. The goal is not to be a professional student but to
be a productive servant. When I was a young man in high school, many times the
comment would be on the report card, ‘He has the intellect, but he just does
not apply himself’. When we apply for a job, we put ourselves out there for
consideration. We don’t just sit back and wait for the phone call, we go out
and apply; we tell others that we are interested and available.
Cry after knowledge - What kind of cry resides within us? Do we
have an intense longing for true knowledge? This cry within is a necessary
element in wisdom, because if you are given wisdom but do not have a heart cry
and desire to use it correctly, you will not value what you have been given. Hunger
is an intense motivator. We will do all kinds of radical and extreme things in
order to eat and survive. We are to have a similar type of hunger that will drive us in a quest for
spiritual sustenance. Is there a heart-cry for knowledge? Knowledge is
necessary for a blessed life. We sometimes say, ‘What you don’t know won’t hurt
you’, but the reality is that what we do not know may indeed be hurting us
terribly. God said, ‘My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge’. If I
have no knowledge that the bridge is out on the road ahead, I may be destroyed
because of that lack of knowledge; knowledge would have saved my life.
Lift up your voice - The ability to speak is a God-given
blessing. We celebrate the day that the baby speaks its first words. If that
child never learns to speak then we know that something is terribly wrong. Our voice
is the expression of our unique identity. There is no other voice identical to
yours or mine. Lift up your voice, God says. You have a voice. You have a vote,
if you will. You have a say in what happens to you. You have a valid
perspective; voice it. There is something very powerful about the way God has
made us; we are created in his image and he is a speaking spirit, a communicating
voice, an articulate person. You are in charge of your voice, lift it up, put
some power beneath it and release your voice. Speak to God honestly and
unreservedly, speak to each other openly and with humility and watch how you will
grow in identity and security.
Seek her - We are created to seek. Seek and you shall find is how Jesus said it to us. God wants us to seek and to pursue him. We are
to seek for wisdom and understanding like we would seek for silver or today’s currency;
money. Many of us poke fun at those who chase the ‘almighty dollar’ but if we
were honest we might have to agree that we have done the same. Much of our life
is taken up with our jobs and ‘making a living’. Money occupies a great deal of
our thoughts and energies. What if we turned that around so that we sought God
and his wisdom like we seek financial gain and security? We don’t really need
money, we need wisdom. If we have wisdom and apply wisdom, our money problems
disappear. It very often takes time but wisdom definitely answers the money
problem. Seek her diligently and desire her intensely.
Search for her - Man is an explorer by nature; he must
continue to discover new worlds. This innate quest to pioneer, survey and map
out unoccupied territories motivates men to not settle for the status quo. If
only we could focus those exploratory skills on acquiring the wisdom of God. We
are told to search for her as for hidden treasure. If we knew that there was
treasure of great worth buried in our back yards, we would dig up every inch
until we uncovered it. That is the type of desire and effort that is needed to
obtain God’s wisdom. Search for her and do not stop until you unearth that
buried treasure of wisdom and knowledge. God does indeed hide his wisdom but, it is not
hidden from you, it is hidden for you.
This chapter in Proverbs starts out with a
condition; if you will do these things, and it ends with a result; then you
will understand and find what you are seeking. Every parent knows these words;
if…then…if you finish your meal then you can have dessert, if you clean your
room then you can watch a show, if you do your homework then you will pass the
test, if…then. To listen to some psychologists today you would think it was
abuse to ask anyone to do something before being rewarded. In the home, in the
classroom and at the workplace we have fallen prey to the bankrupt philosophies
of the world. This world has taught
young people to feel entitled; that they deserve the best that our country
offers without any effort on their part. Just listen to the irrational rants of
some people; my parents owe me, my boss owes me, my government owes me, my
church owes me and on and on it goes ad infinitum, ad nauseam. These
philosophies and ideologies are producing a culture of infantile people who
never will accept responsibility for anything, thus locking themselves in a
never-ending spiral of diminishment and defeat.
Thank God, we can break free from all that
nonsense! God, through his Word, gives us actual and practical wisdom; skill
and expertise to plan, build, develop and mature. Exciting opportunities await
those who recognize their worth and realize their place in the plan of God. In
the words of a wise man named Arthur S. Ward, “…If you are wise, you will forget
yourself into greatness. Forget your rights, but remember your
responsibilities. Forget your inconveniences, but remember your blessings. Forget
your own accomplishments, but remember your debts to others. Forget your
privileges, but remember your obligations. Follow the examples of Florence
Nightingale, of Albert Schweitzer, of Abraham Lincoln, of Tom Dooley, and forget
yourself into greatness…”
No comments:
Post a Comment