HAVE YOU GOT IT YET?
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Opening Prayer
Help me to grow in grace, Gracious Father, as I read your Word that overflows with words offering me truth and hope.
Read PROVERBS 4:1–9
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Get Wisdom at Any Cost
4 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
2 I give you sound learning,
so do not forsake my teaching.
3 For I too was a son to my father,
still tender, and cherished by my mother.
4 Then he taught me, and he said to me,
“Take hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[a] wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,[b] get understanding.
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will give you a garland to grace your head
and present you with a glorious crown.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 4:7 Or Wisdom is supreme; therefore get
- Proverbs 4:7 Or wisdom. / Whatever else you get
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
‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you’ (Psalm 119:11).‘Mind how you cross the road!’ As my brother and I grew old enough to walk to school or the shops on our own, Mum would call this after us every time we left the house. It grew to be such a habit that she did it once by accident when I was visiting from university! The things we hold to be of utmost importance we repeat over and over again.
These verses feel rather like that, don’t they? As if the last three chapters of warning, cajoling, and exhorting haven’t been enough, Solomon once again instructs his son, ‘Get wisdom’ (v. 5).
Look at the different relationships he mentions to drive his point home. He himself learned wisdom from his parents (David and Bathsheba), as well as the importance of wisdom. He in turn is seeking to pass these lessons on to his son. Verses 6–9 again depict wisdom as a woman—and this time using quite romantic language (love, cherish, embrace). Through these images wisdom is being associated—in the son’s mind and ours—with love, nurture, passion, and desire.
Apply
What do you think the costs might be, that Solomon hints at in verse 7? How might it be costly to pursue wisdom and understanding?
Closing prayer
Lord God, help me to value wisdom as highly as Solomon did, and to seek it at any price.
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