Foreword:

Ever wonder what God might have to say to YOU today? Here are things to ponder, and things to receive into your heart. If you have a question, put it in the comments. I respond as much as I can.

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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Wisdom comes...

The writer of Proverbs is discussing life with his son, and explaining the way of wisdom. The first two chapters of Proverbs deal with this at length.  "My words" refer to the father's words to his son, written in Proverbs, but tied to God's wisdom, because the father derived his own words from principles he found in the Scriptures of his day, and from his observations of life, infused with the Spirit of God.  For the most part, the Scriptures he used would have been the Torah, or first five books of the Bible, with some other material added. You'll note that the writer says, "The LORD gives wisdom..."  and therefore the writer of THIS book acknowledges his indebtedness to his own Heavenly Father for the gifts of wisdom he's received.

Proverbs 2:
1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
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.

Wisdom is God's gift--but it's not free, as if it sort of just happened inside your head--it requires work. Here is how you get wisdom:
Listen--accept the words of truth, and hold them in your heart.
Ask--Pray for Divine understanding.
Search--Wisdom is a great treasure.  Search diligently.
Humble yourself. Realize that wisdom is not in your nature, you must learn to receive it.
Never stop seeking and learning, so that you are not like the M. D. who knows only what he learned 30 years ago in medical school.
God will give you wisdom, and speak knowledge and understanding into your heart. In other words, the wisdom of God is revealed specifically to you--it's His truth applied to your particular situation, and He gives it to you when you cannot discover it on your own. Normally, wisdom is given to you for YOU, not for someone else, and you should be careful about applying what God has said to you to others, unless you know it also applies to them.
James says: "Does any of you lack wisdom? Ask God...and it will be given to you. If you really want wisdom, it can be yours.  However, this is one gift for which you must seek and pray, and listen carefully--because your desire shows you will use it when you get it.

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