Proverbs 2
Wouldn’t it be cool to be at the Oscars? Okay, maybe not! However, a few years ago I loved seeing Rami Malek be the first man of Egyptian heritage to win best actor. Malek looks nothing like we categorize people from middle eastern descent to look like. As an immigrant myself, I often get lumped into a standardized basket of eastern European prejudices.
A person's worth can be found in his character and heart. Proverbs 2 tells us to “listen for, cry out for, seek and search for” wisdom, which looks to be at home in the heart. And we’re in luck, God gives out wisdom freely (v. 6).
Because wisdom takes root in the heart and acts to protect the person who embraces it, “Then we understand, righteousness, equity and justice and every good path.” (vv. 9-11). We may never be in the world’s “who’s who,” but we can know "what’s what." We can be people of discretion. We can know what’s good and what’s foolish, what’s right and what’s wrong. And this way, we’ll be kept from the path of the evil man.
Blessings,
Pastor Adrian
A person's worth can be found in his character and heart. Proverbs 2 tells us to “listen for, cry out for, seek and search for” wisdom, which looks to be at home in the heart. And we’re in luck, God gives out wisdom freely (v. 6).
Because wisdom takes root in the heart and acts to protect the person who embraces it, “Then we understand, righteousness, equity and justice and every good path.” (vv. 9-11). We may never be in the world’s “who’s who,” but we can know "what’s what." We can be people of discretion. We can know what’s good and what’s foolish, what’s right and what’s wrong. And this way, we’ll be kept from the path of the evil man.
Blessings,
Pastor Adrian
Posted in Proverbs Challenge
10 Comments
My child, will u treasure my wisdom??
Only then will u attain it...
So train ur heart â¤ï¸ to listen when I speak & open ur spirit to My discernment. TPT
I'm sorry that you have felt judged by people. Every original American was an immigrant. My grandparents came from east and west Berlin in the early 1900s. They got to experience the real American dream. Get land, have 16 kids and have a farm. Until the warm broke out and my dad and his brothers fought in world War 2. Fast forward to now, where people can barely make it. My heart hurts in a different way. My dad fought for us to be free and have the American dream and those that don't know Jesus want to take it all away. I'm praying for revival. God has done it before and He can do it again!!! Love ya like a brother. You're a very blessed man with gifts that are changing peoples lives. Enjoy being the vessel in spite of the pain we suffer for doing so. Your reward will be bigger than any Grammy or golden globe. Not to down play the good ones like the Chosen trying to get the word out. May God protect them.
HIS wisdom will become a shield against foolish temptation and it allows us to focus on a life of integrity
Tami, Verse 7 stood out to me as well. "He is a shield to those who walk in integrity". His gift of wisdom to us protects our paths of integrity. I love that.
How many times do we see non believers (or perhaps even not actively walking with Jesus) bogged down with confusion, anxiety, addiction, temptation, and so on?
He's not asking us to do all these challenging works to become upright. He's literally asking us to "receive, treasure up, ear attentive, inclining your heart, call out, raise your voice, search for it, seek it" (v1-4)
We do all these thing THEN we will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God (verse 5)
Love if and then statements because it's something I'm very familiar with working with kids.
If you put your toys away then we can go outside and play.
God has it written out for us so plainly, yet I've caught myself asking for wisdom and discernment many times these past few months. Love them God points us to the Scripture we need to hear. â¤ï¸
I never really thought about the strong connection between wisdom and morals. They go together in a beautiful way.
I've always revered Proverbs, this is good review and fun as a group. Thank you for leading us in this, Adrian.
A key takeaway for me from this chapter is what Solomon says regarding searching for wisdom in v. 4, "search for it as for hidden treasure." I think most of us would search pretty hard if we had a good idea where valuable treasure was hidden. Solomon was conveying how valuable wisdom is. We should pursue it with tenacity and intensity--it is that valuable!
Wisdom is not just handed to us. We seek it out through the Word and through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Once we obtain the wisdom from God, we are to hold it tight and not forget about it. I believe we are to snare the wisdom through intentionality to other around us. The wisdom we have will lead others to Christ if they take it to heart and begin to seek that same wisdom for themselves.
To seek Him is to gain wisdom!
All of the benefits of wisdom - knowledge, discretion, understanding, deliverance, uprightness, integrity - are conditional. The choice is ours to make. He says right away..."IF you receive my words and treasure the commandments; IF you listen and turn your heart to understanding; IF you call out for insight, IF you ask for understanding, IF you seek it like silver and search for it....THEN (and only then ) will wisdom come into your heart."