A GIFT WORTH SEEKING
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Opening Prayer
Coming to your Word, Father, I ask you to help me grow in my understanding of what I read. Use it to build my faith and strengthen my walk with you.
Read PROVERBS 2
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
2 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
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.
9 Then 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.
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a]
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:17 Or covenant of her God
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Think of a time when you pursued a worthwhile goal. How did you feel during the process and when it was complete?There is a paradox in today’s passage. Verse 6 tells us wisdom is a gift from the Lord, but verses 1–5 suggest that we have to work for it. Look at all the verbs in those verses: accept, store up, turn, apply, look, search. They don’t depict someone who acquires wisdom accidentally, who just wakes up one day and finds they are wise! There are things we can and must do in order to grow in wisdom.
But we can be assured that it won’t be a fruitless search. James 1:5 tells us that God gives wisdom generously to anyone who asks for it, and verse 5 of today’s passage promises that the seeker will find. It promises other rewards too. Wisdom and understanding will protect you from wicked people and from sexual temptation, and will bring you success. We will look more at this theme tomorrow, but for now just note that the effort will be rewarded.
How do we pursue this wisdom then? Studying God’s Word (including Proverbs, which many people find tricky!); spending time with wise, godly people, listening to them and learning from their lives; reading Christian biographies and teaching materials. Seek these things out, and God will use them to give you wisdom (vv. 1–6).
Apply
What will you do to pursue wisdom in the next few days?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, Take me away from worthless pursuits and guide me to those people and places where I can gain wisdom and continue to grow as a follower of Christ.
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