Here Are My Thoughts

READ: Proverbs 2

“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you…” (Proverbs 2:1)

Did anybody else hear the phrase, “you get out what you put in”, when they were growing up? I know I did. I think it’s one of the phrases that parents inherently have stored in their brain. Whether it was school, sports, relationships, or anything else, that saying was on replay in my head. And it makes sense-it’s basically another way of saying, “You reap what you sow.” We can’t expect to get maximum return out of the slices of life that we put minimal investment into. I coach high school football, and we talk about this with our players all the time-the season they want to have, the goals they want to achieve, are entirely based on how much work they invest during the off-season and throughout the week of practice. You get out what you put in.

And it’s with this same concept in mind that Solomon writes Proverbs 2. He echoes what he wrote in Proverbs 1, that wisdom is readily available and able to be gained by all, but he takes it a step further by sharing with us what is required in order to take hold of it. Solomon shares with his readers, from the perspective of his son, that if his words are received, if you call out for insight, if you seek wisdom like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will find the wisdom imparted by God. Because, as he goes on to say, God gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. God gives us wisdom when we walk in integrity, He uses it to protect us when we seek to do His will. But we only get it when we seek it earnestly.

I love the parallel we see in this part of Proverbs-it connects with the opening passage of the entire book. As we saw yesterday, Solomon opens Proverbs by saying that those who read this do so in order to “receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity.” And then, in Proverbs 2:9, Solomon says that when we are attentive to wisdom, when we call out for insight, “then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity..”. He does the same thing in relation to Proverbs 1:7, in which he declares that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. After giving all of these conditional statements (the “if’s”), he fulfills what he said previously by stating that when this happens, you find the knowledge of God, because you understand the fear of the Lord.

So we get out what we put in. Seek wisdom, and you’ll find it. Trust God with your life, and He will guide your life to places that are better than you could ever create for yourself. God is faithfully consistent in his posture and provision towards you. But He doesn’t simply want to give to you, He wants to include you. God not only chooses to bless us in our lives but calls us to be active participants-to move, as He moves in and around us. That’s why He asks us to seek out wisdom, rather than just dispensing it. He wants us to take responsibility for looking for what is best for us, from the One who is best for us. And then, God uses the wisdom He gives us to shield us, to guard us, and to watch over us. To give us discretion and understanding, and deliverance from what is evil and harmful to us.

In Matthew 7, Jesus says, “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.” Jesus is speaking more generally here, about relationship with God Himself, but His words echo what Solomon challenges us with in Proverbs 2. You want to have understanding, discretion, and deliverance from what is destructive for you? You need wisdom. God wants to give it to you. All you have to do is ask.

-Brett