Heart of Wisdom - Proverbs Two

I will be varying which book I use for devotional times. Today it's this one by Stephen Olford, called Windows of Wisdom: Devotional Studies in Proverbs.

Today, we look at Proverbs Two.

¹ My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
² making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
³ yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
⁴ if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
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;
⁷ he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
⁸ guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
¹⁰ for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹ discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
¹² delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
¹³ who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
¹⁴ who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
¹⁵ men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.

¹⁶ So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
¹⁷ who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
¹⁸ for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
¹⁹ none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰ So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Ah the promises in this Proverb. Oh it makes me long to follow God and his word more closely. I have SO far yet to go. God is gracious though and continues to teach me and show me his way.

But consider what one gets if one follows God and treasures up his word.

• will understand the fear of the LORD
• find the knowledge of God.
• will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;
• for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul
• discretion will watch over you
• understanding will guard you
• delivering you from the way of evil,

From The Lord God himself we will see that he

• stores up sound wisdom for the upright
• gives wisdom
• gives knowledge and understanding
• is a shield to those who walk in integrity
• guards the paths of justice
• watches over the way of his saints.

And just what is evil?

• it is a way of being
• men of perverted speech
• forsake the paths of uprightness
• walk in the ways of darkness,
• rejoice in doing evil
• delight in the perverseness of evil
• men whose paths are crooked
• devious in their ways

Those who follow after God will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words. In other words... Evil is sneaky, it's forbidden, it seems different than what it is. These words make me think of con-men who come to us with their plans and ideas and fool us into listening to them and giving them our resources.

AND to think... if we turn to God, he'll protect us.

Does that mean that no evil will befall us? No... but it does mean that we have someone watching out for us IF we take the time to learn from him. It is active you know... learning from God. One can just say Yes! I believe in God and then think that it will all come by osmosis. It doesn't... yes we can learn much of God by seeing the world that he gave us, but really knowing God means taking the time to KNOW him. To read his word, to listen to good teachers, to meditate on it. If we do this, The Lord God himself will surely guide us.

and so God leaves us with this promise

²⁰ So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

What does Olford say?
"the Lord gives wisdom...to possess this wisdom we must fulfill certain conditions. ... we must receive God's wisdom...We must request God's wisdom...we must research God's wisdom".





The rest in this Series
Proverbs One.