Proverbs 2:1, 5, “My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you… then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
If you spend five minutes watching the political antics of those in Washington DC, you may (actually, you most likely will) come to the conclusion that wisdom seems to be in short order these days. That wherever we look, sound wisdom seems to be absent. For the Christian, however, such should not be the case. The Bible has much to say on the topic of wisdom. For example, “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus Christ” (Col 2:3); the book of James gives us a wonderful description of true wisdom (James 3:13-18); and the book of Proverbs is in its entirety taken up with theme of wisdom (1:1-7). Therefore, the Scriptures give us a wealth of insight into the much neglected characteristic of wisdom (when was the last time you heard someone described as ‘wise’). We should be diligently striving for greater wisdom: “Get wisdom; get insight” (Prov 4:5)
I want to take a few moments and think about the question: “why should we seek wisdom.” And the book of Proverbs gives us the answer. There are several places to which we could turn, but for the moment we will confine our thoughts to chapter 2. Proverbs 2 begins with an “if” statement: “My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures” (vv. 1-3). Listen to the focus on our activity in striving for wisdom, “if you receive … and treasure up … if you call out … and raise your voice … if you seek it and search for it …” What follows the “if” statement is the conclusion, or the “then” statement. If you do x, then y will follow. “…then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God … then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path” (vv. 5, 9). In other words, if you seek wisdom, you will find wisdom (cf. James 4:2b). Or to put it another way, if you seek wisdom, the Lord will grow you in the Christian life; he will grant you insight into his word and his ways (“righteousness and justice and equity”); he will strengthen you in the Christian walk (“every good path”).
To summarize, God has commanded us to seek wisdom, to search for wisdom, to call to God for wisdom, to receive it, and to treasure it above gold and silver. And as we seek for wisdom, the Lord will grant it. And as he grants it, he will grow us and mature us as his servants. What a tremendous blessing! Dear Christian, oh how the church and the world needs the leaven of wise Christians! Seek and you will find! May we all diligently seek to be wise Christians!!
– Rev. Robert Arendale