Proverbs 2.1-5
“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, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
A consistent theme in Proverbs is that we must pursue wisdom with great diligence and persistence. We must seek it as we seek treasure. Proverbs 2 is not a description of an occasional request; it is a description of a relentless pursuit. The message is that God’s wisdom is available only to those who are deeply committed to seeking it.
Acquiring true insight begins with studying and knowing God’s Word, and then continues with an all-encompassing pursuit of wisdom. Note that multiple human senses are involved in the pursuit of wisdom:
Your ears. What you listen to: “Make your ear attentive to wisdom.”
Your heart and mind. How you think: “Incline your heart for understanding.”
Your voice. What you ask for: “Call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding.”
Your eyes. What you look for. “Seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures.”
Proverbs 2.6-8
“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.”
In the quest for wisdom, motive matters. God gives wisdom in support of “the upright” and to help people “who walk in integrity and guard the paths of justice.” The Lord does not give wisdom to those with motives that are self-centered or evil. Indeed, God gives wisdom to godly people in order to protect them from the deceptions and manipulations of evil people.
The book of James speaks to our motives when asking God for wisdom: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1.5-7)
Everybody wants things, and that’s OK. Jesus himself tells us: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7.7).
But wanting things isn’t the problem; the problem we face is that our wants and desires are distorted by the sin nature. As a result, we want the wrong things, or we want the right things in the wrong way. For that reason, there are conditions for asking and receiving. God is not a cosmic vending machine who dispenses whatever we want in response to whatever we ask. James says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4.3).
Motives matter. What you want and why you want it is critical. What are you seeking and why? What door are you knocking on and why? What are you asking for and why? Let us ask God for wisdom. Let us seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure. And let us ask for the right reasons.
Combatting misdirected and distorted desires is a constant inner battle that is fought within the heart. Jeremiah warned us about the intensity and difficulty of this inner battle: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17.9). It is for this reason that Proverbs says “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4.23).
Proverbs chapter 2 tells us to pursue wisdom with the whole self. Do not let the voices of the world distract you or deceive you or derail you. Seek the Lord’s wisdom with your whole heart.
