Day 940: Proverbs 2- Treasures of Wisdom

​My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
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 stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
    and watching over the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you,
    understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
    from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
    to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil
    and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose paths are crooked,
    and who are devious in their ways.
 
16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
    from the adulteress with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth
    and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 for her house sinks down to death,
    and her paths to the departed;
19 none who go to her come back,
    nor do they regain the paths of life.
 
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
    and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
    and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
 
 
Meditation
After receiving the throne from his father David, God approached Solomon and asked what he wanted to establish his kingdom. Solomon saw his vast call and asked for “wisdom and knowledge” (2 Chronicles 1). Solomon’s heart sought walking in God’s ways and delighting in God’s direction more than gaining wealth, power, and influence.
 
Solomon passes wisdom to his son through cautioning him to cultivate a heart that listens and obeys the words and ways of the Lord. Wisdom is passively received by listening and actively sought through seeking. When we seek God’s word and God’s ways as our highest treasure then we will seek God with all our hearts (1-8).
 
Notice the glorious description of what wisdom wins for our hearts (9-11): Righteousness. Justice. Equity. Protection. Delivering from the way of evil. Fruitfulness in the ways of righteousness.
Wisdom protects from evil and devious people whose paths are crooked and corrupt. Wisdom guards from adulterous and deceptive people whose ways lead to ruin.
 
Wisdom leads to the fullness of God’s blessings and promises. Foolishly rejecting wisdom leads to trouble and treachery (22). Solomon’s rule exemplified both! And his instruction today invites us to choose which path we will walk.
 
Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24) and Jesus teaches disciples to diagnose what we treasure by examining what our heart seeks (Matthew 6:21). When we seek first Jesus and His kingdom, the wisdom of His ways, everything else will be added (Matthew 6:33).
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from Proverbs 2 in regards to both the passive and active ways to gain wisdom, to listen and to seek?
 
-Where do you see the folly of your heart seeking after the ways of the world?
 
-How does God’s grace in Christ invite you to return to the righteous path of walking in God’s ways and seeking His divine design for your life? WHERE do you need to specifically return to God’s wisdom for the path you are walking?
 
Key Verse
1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;