“For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6

Proverbs 2 begins with a series of conditional statements. IF you accept his words and store up his commands, turn your ears and apply your heart to understanding, look for it (wisdom) and search for it as for hidden treasure, THEN you will understand the fear of the Lord (the starting place of a wise life according to chapter 1) and you will ‘find’ the knowledge of God. Verse 6 then tells us that the Lord gives knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

When I was growing up we had a family rule which required my brother and I to get a job every summer. The deal was that it didn’t matter how much money we did or did not make, we had to get up everyday and do something productive and earn some money. I did everything from selling Cutco Knives to cleaning out dog kennels at a local veterinarian clinic. I learned a lot from my summer jobs. First, I learned that I didn’t want to work fast food the rest of my life. This was serious motivation to go to college. Second, I learned something about my parents. They were willing to give me everything that I needed and most things that I wanted, but I had to work for it and show them that I was responsible and making an effort to be a productive person. In other words, I had to be faithful. I think that is what Solomon is getting at in Proverbs 2, the Lord rewards faithfulness.

This passage gives us an interesting picture of God’s grace. He gives us knowledge, wisdom and understanding as a gift. And this gift of wisdom in turn protects us from the ways of wicked men (verse 12) and from the adultress (verse 16). However, we have to want the gift. It’s not that ‘earn’ it (when we are seeking for it and searching for it as for hidden treasures) as if our seeking somehow merits or obligates God to reward us. Rather, our seeking and searching prepares us to receive the gift with humility and gratitude so that it will actually have it’s intended effect of producing wisdom and understanding that in turn protects us from the wicked men and the adultress.

It’s sort of like the farmer who has to be faithful to prepare the soil, remove the rocks and the weeds, plant the seed, fertilize, pray for rain etc. His faithfulness or lack thereof has a direct correlation to the outcome. But in the end the final outcome is totally dependent on God’s blessing.

Proverbs 2 challenges us to seek the Lord with all of our hearts. To do the hard work of praying and reading scripture and looking for his wisdom as though we were looking for hidden treasures. If we do this faithfully, the promise is that he will reveal himself to us in the form of wisdom, knowledge and understanding that will help you to avoid the traps and finish well.

Lord, I pray that you would give me a heart and a mind to seek you with all my energy, to understand your truth and apply it to my life diligently, and the grace and strength to avoid the traps of wickedness and sexual temptation. Amen.