SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 2
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. [Matthew 7:7-8] God wants to give us knowledge, wisdom, insight, protection, guidance, and ultimately security and blessing. God is just waiting for us to ask, to seek, to knock. Solomon urges his son to make his #1 priority the attaining of wisdom. If you are wise, you will avoid the deceptive words of those who tempt you to lie, cheat, steal, or hurt; if you are discerning, you will avoid the seductions of sexual temptation; both of these paths lead to misery and death. Wisdom leads towards God and good and happiness.
Ever notice that other people can notice folly in someone, while they cannot see it themselves? We tend to be blind to our own flaws, but can see them well in others. Wisdom is the result of pondering life, reflecting on self, meditating on truth, struggling for answers. I see wisdom as practical, common sense truth, that so many of us remain blind to. Logically, we know that telling lies leads to bondage, mistrust and lack of integrity… but we still tell them. Deep down we know that sexual impurity and compromise poisons the soul and ruins relationships… but we do it anyway. We all admit that money cannot buy happiness, yet we still try to buy it.
Both Jesus and Solomon are saying: STOP, pay attention, figure it out, make a decision to aim for God, and good, and truth, and integrity. Search for it as if it were buried treasure. A life rooted in God, and in the qualities of godliness, is a path to life, and happiness, and success. Every other path, no matter how great its promise are, leads to misery and death.
God is ready to reveal wisdom to those who come looking for it. Those who ask, receive; those who seek, find; those who knock, the door is opened. But the asking, seeking and knocking described here are energetic, eager. Elsewhere Jesus speaks of hunger and thirsting for righteousness. It is this kind of seeking, a desperate longing, a deep desire. To those who come hungry, the Lord is eager to satisfy with good things – wisdom, and all its many blessings.
PRAYER:
Lord, I sense wisdom, yet I do not always choose to live it. Help me do more than affirm what is true, help me to strive to live according to it!