TOWARDS WISDOM WE GO

 JULY 12, 2022

Proverbs 2:1-5a

My 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

Dr. Steven Jones writes, “I once worked with a marriage counseling ministry in a church. They offered three kinds of counseling: premarital counseling, counseling for couples having marriage difficulties, and something they called “marriage maximizing.” When I asked what the third one was, I was told that it was for couples who weren’t having problems but simply wanted their marriage to be all it could be. I responded that those sessions are probably easier because the couples are already doing well and want to be doing better. The answer I received shocked me. They said these sessions were actually harder because they were the same as helping marriages in crisis, except these couples were unwilling to admit anything was wrong. They wanted to pretend everything was okay but at the same time try to get the help they needed. This experience showed me that the first obstacle to getting help in life is being willing to admit it. You will never want wisdom until you realize you don’t have it.”

In Proverbs 1, we saw that a wise person is not someone who has obtained wisdom, but simply someone who has the desire to be wise. We noted that this person lives in awe of our Creator and therefore seeks to draw closer into “right relationship” with God.

Proverbs 2 moves on to offer encouragement to seek wisdom sincerely. This chapter is a longer sermon-style proverb, so we will spend a couple days of this chapter. Proverbs 2 is told from the perspective of a father addressing his son about how to obtain a good life. He is trying to show his son what seeking wisdom looks like and all the benefits that he will obtain from it.

In our reading above in verses 1-4 we are told how to seek Wisdom. Like all great sermons the author gives us 3 key points. They are as follows:

• Receiving It v1 “If you will receive my words…” The first step in seeking wisdom is to be open to receiving it. The father is offering wisdom. The first step in gaining wisdom is seeking. The first step in seeking wisdom is being open to receiving it. Receiving wisdom is not a passive thing. It means valuing what someone is telling you, being thoughtful to it, and being humble enough to realize you need it.

• Storing It v1 “and treasure my commandments within you…”  One of the biggest reasons wisdom isn’t valued is because we think we don’t need it right now. Wisdom may not seem immediately relevant to our situation. There is a reason for this. It is better to learn how to handle a hard situation before we are in that hard situation. I liken this: to the basic training which equips soldiers with how to handle circumstances before they encounter them in real life experience. This wisdom that we are seeking, is offered in times of peace, but if we will treasure it and store it away, we will have what we need when the time comes. It’s “PRE-PREPARING” in other words. To do this, requires patience and a focus that looks beyond the present to what lies ahead in life.

• Hunting for It v3-4 “cry for discernment/seek her like silver/search as for hidden treasure”  Seeking wisdom starts with humility and being open to receiving it. Seeking wisdom means storing it to use later. Seeking wisdom means earnestly, sincerely, single-mindedly searching for it. It means realizing its true worth and wanting it above all. That is how we are supposed to seek wisdom, like the hidden treasure that it is. Reminds me of Jesus parable in Matthew 13:44-46.

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Most people after reading that you must seek wisdom like it’s a hidden treasure feel a sense of let-down and disappointment. Proverbs 2 seems to anticipate that reaction and goes on to point us to the benefits of the search by discussing what wisdom can do for us. That’s for tomorrow.

Today let’s just receive, store, and hunt for the wisdom that leads us to living well, to living skillfully.