“…if you call out
for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of
the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and
understanding.” –Proverbs
2:3b-6 (ESV).
“The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7a). “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the
one who gets understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).
With these verses the theme of Proverbs is stated. Add this from Proverbs 4:7 : “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get
wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding” (KJV). To fear God, to hold Him in deep
reverence, is where true knowledge begins.
He will then bless the one who pursues wisdom. And then comes understanding, the ability to
discern, weigh, apply reflective thought.
Understanding is a depth of knowledge beyond mere acquisition of facts;
to understand is to be aware, to perceive.
Paul had the right idea about the depth of understanding when he urged
Timothy to reflect on his teachings, for in so doing, the Lord will give him
insight: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in
everything” (2 Timothy 7).
The wise man who wrote the Proverbs (in
this section, Solomon is given credit for teaching these precepts to his son)
covered many subjects under the general topics of seeking wisdom and
understanding. He is warned not to fall
into habits of perverted speech (2:12, and not to follow those who walk in dark
and devious ways (2: 13, 15).A bit of sex education was included in these instructions,
with the warning not to go after “the
forbidden woman” or “the adulteress
with smooth words” (2:16). Only
abysmal failure will come from such behavior, for one following this path
cannot “regain the paths of life” (2:19). I am reminded of the father who wanted to
teach his child the effects of falling into sin. Every time the child transgressed the rules
the parents had set for him, they went out to the wooden gate and drove a nail
into the solid boards of the gate. When
the child repented of his ways and mended his behavior, the father would go
with him and they would draw the offending nail out of the gate. But alas, a hole remained in the solid wood
where the nail had entered, even after it was removed. The father then told his son, “When you
transgress, the scars will always remain upon your life, even when you are
forgiven. So it is better not to walk in
evil ways and bear the marks of wrongdoing.”
Throughout these proverbs the
admonitions are a father to his son. It
was the Hebrew way to acknowledge the son who would reach the age of
accountability and be fully accepted into the way of the Jewish laws. But this is not to say that the admonitions
were any less for daughters. In that
day, it was a masculine world. But the
admonitions to fear the Lord, seek wisdom, and seek understanding were for both
genders, male and female as well. I
recall a serious talk my father had with me just before I left home to go to
college. Warning me that I might be
taught what my father called “strange doctrines,” and might be tempted to be
led astray by those who had not been instructed to follow the Lord’s ways, he
said to me: “Ethelene, always remember
where you came from, your upbringing.
All you do will be a reflection upon your family. So I pray that you will remember your raising
and follow the right paths.” I could
never get very far away from my father’s advice. He sacrificed much to allow me to get an
education. I did not want wrong choices
and wrong behavior to reflect adversely on the good rearing I had
received. He had a good phrase for
understanding; it was simply “Use good common sense.”
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