A Parental Appeal: Embark on the Quest for Wisdom

The famous missionary to China, Hudson Taylor once wrote, “I am taking my children with me, and I notice it is not difficult for me to remember that the little ones need breakfast in the morning, dinner at midday, and something before they go to bed at night. Indeed I could not forget it, and I find it impossible to suppose that our Heavenly Father is less tender or mindful than I. I do not believe that our Heavenly Father will ever forget His children. I am a very poor father, but it is not my habit to forget my children. God is a very, very good Father, it is not His habit to forget His children. Before I was a father, I thought God never would forget me; but since I have been a father, I know God never can forget me.”

Isaiah records the truth of Hudson Taylor’s point in Isaiah 49:14–16, “But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”

In Proverbs, we see a loving father who tenderly, wisely, and repeatedly instructs his son in the way of wisdom. He acts as the Lord’s steward of this young life, carefully and lovingly introducing the son to the Lord and his ways. In his first lecture (Prv 1:8–19), the father briefly encouraged the son to accept his teaching, but spent most of his time warning him against listening to the enticements of sinners. In his second lecture, the father wisely, biblically instructs the son in how to replace following sinners in their quest for temporal wealth and significance with embarking on a quest for wisdom. Every wise parent knows that it is not enough to warn our children about what not to do. A wise parent spends more time instructing their children in what they should do instead. In our text today, we notice three steps the father presents on the path to relationship with wisdom.

I. Step 1 – Making every effort to find wisdom (Prv 2:1–4)

A. Choosing to value wisdom (Prv 2:1)

Explanation: It is clear from the words that the father uses in his teaching that the teaching is based on God’s Word. Here he uses the word “commandments” as a synonym for his teaching. In his first discourse to the son (Prv 1:8) he used the word law. Both of these words are synonymous with God’s Word in Deuteronomy and Psalm 119.

Explanation: The word translated “hide” in the King James Version here has the idea of storing an item of great value. Many translations use the word “treasure” to describe the young man’s response to the father’s commands. To borrow the words of the Psalmist, he hides them in his heart because he chooses to treasure them. The father’s first desire for the son is that he will choose to place great value on God’s Word.

Argumentation/Illustration: As the philosopher of science, Michael Polanyi, asserted, true knowledge does not come from a detached observation of facts. True knowledge comes from a personal commitment to a set of particulars, as tools or clues, to shape a skillful achievement. The acquiring of true knowledge requires skill. How does a child learn to ride a bicycle? The child starts by committing himself to the act of learning, because he places value on the skill of bicycle riding. The child then takes the risk of falling off the bike and skinning his knee to build the skillful actions necessary to safely riding a bike. This style of learning is in view as the father continues his advice to his son.

B. Listening actively for wisdom (Prv 2:2)

Explanation: Once you have determined to place importance on learning something, your mind is activated to pay attention to it. Consequently, your ears automatically perk up when you hear it being discussed, and you listen attentively whenever you hear even a few tidbits about it.

Application: But the second half of this verse shows why you are listening so intently for wisdom. Your heart desires to put what you hear into practice. Your mind (a key component of the biblical heart) is determined to take what you hear and to figure out how it may be applied in your life to make you spiritually successful.

Quotation: God offers us wisdom, and we need to start by recognizing the valuable treasure that it is. So, we begin actively listening to God and giving ourselves to Him as He wishes. C. S. Lewis put it this way, “God cannot bless us, unless he has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, God claims all. There’s no bargaining with him.”

C. Asking specifically for wisdom (Prv 2:3)

Explanation: The quest for wisdom intensifies in this verse as the father calls upon the son to reciprocate wisdom’s cry for the attention of the city’s citizens in Proverbs 1:20 by answering back to wisdom with his own cry of desire to hear her message. The Hebrew word there and the one here is the same.

Argumentation: You can be sure that God will hear such a cry. Our Lord made this plain when he said, “Ask, and it shall be given you…for every one that asketh receiveth…” and again, “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If yet then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt 7:7–11). Our Lord’s brother James wrote the following under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).

D. Seeking diligently for wisdom (Prv 2:4)

Explanation: I hope you see the spiritual truth here that as we ask God for wisdom, He expects us to help answer that prayer by seeking diligently for wisdom. God both gives as we ask and provides what we ask as we seek. As we have mentioned before, to seek wisdom is to seek God, the giver of all wisdom. We need to seek him while there is still time. Note the words of Isaiah 55:6–7, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Explanation: This verse also tells us that there is a certain way we should seek wisdom. We search for it with all the diligence of a miner digging in the earth for precious metals. And we can be sure that we will find, for our Lord said, “seek, and ye shall find…and he that seeketh findeth…” (Matt 7:7–8). Jeremiah wrote, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer 29:13).

Quotation: K. T. Aitken puts it this way, “The students looking for a soft option had better steer clear of the course on wisdom. It is for workers only. The quest for wisdom requires the same concerted effort, patient application and dogged perseverance shown by miners as they tunnel under the earth to extract silver ore and other precious metals (see Job 28). Neither silver ore nor wisdom is got in a day, or got without industry; but for miner and student alike, the prize is worth the toil. But toil there is; and so an earnest desire to obtain wisdom must be uppermost.”

Application: As Ray Ortlund writes about this passage, “Do you see the point? Wisdom is not automatic for us. Wisdom is not our default setting. We will never get there by drifting. You cannot become a significant person by being neutral and cute and safely unchanged. That is complacency. God is offering you a treasure infinitely worth seeking—more of himself entering into you, renewing you, safeguarding you. I do not know what your most personal need is today. But I do know this: God is saying to you, ‘My child, I am so available—if you want me more than you want your own status quo.’”

II. Step 2 - Deepening your relationship with the source of Wisdom (Prv 2:5-8)

A. Achieving increased understanding of Yahweh (Prv 2:5)

Explanation: The only way to achieve increased understanding of the Lord is to have a relationship with him. As we have seen earlier in Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is a relationship phrase, and the knowledge of God is as well. Hosea makes this very clear in Hosea 4:1: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.” And again, Hosea 6:6 says, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Application: It is important that we note at this point how the Sage teaches that we have arrived at this point. It all began back in verse 1 when the son chose to value God and His Word. It is a child-like faith or allegiance to God that yields a deep, mature understanding of God. This is the opposite of what most unsaved people want. They believe if God would just make everything clear to them so that they could have understanding that they would then declare their allegiance to Him. This is a delusional fantasy. A wicked heart bent away from God and His ways will never be reasoned into relationship with God. We only get to “understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” when we see his “eternal power and godhead” and submit to that with child-like faith.

Argumentation: Notice Jesus own words in the gospel of Mark when people brought young children to Him and the disciples attempted to stop the process. “But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:14–15). Now, this does NOT teach that adults cannot be saved. Jesus is illustrating the truth that Proverbs has laid out for us so clearly: allegiance to God precedes a deep understanding of God, and not the other way around. If you would have intimacy with God, there will first be an awe of God.

B. Receiving the desired wisdom from Yahweh (Prv 2:6)

Explanation: Verse 6 teaches that the Lord provides technical skill or shrewdness. As our relationship with Yahweh increases, the Lord provides more and more technical skill for living successfully. But do not misunderstand me here! Do not put words in my mouth! It is the Lord’s definition of successful living that we must understand. Notice the benefits of Yahweh’s wisdom as the Sage continues on in his explanation.

C. Receiving the benefits of Yahweh’s wisdom (Prv 2:7)

Explanation: The Lord lays up sound wisdom, literally meaning success or good result for the righteous, and he is a buckler––that is a shield––to those who walk uprightly. Notice the nouns of morality here! The success and protection provided by Yahweh have to do with a pure life. As we put verses 6 and 7 together, we can then understand that as our relationship with the Lord increases, he provides more and more technical skill for living a truly successful life, and a truly successful life is a pure, morally upright life!

D. Reflecting the character of Yahweh (Prv 2:8)

Explanation: Notice how verse 8 describes those who have loved wisdom and sought it with all their heart: saints! Those who love wisdom and seek it diligently are Holy Ones! They fulfill the purpose for which God created us. They reflect the holy character of God!

Explanation: To think of it in New Testament terms, we could say that God is known through obedience to his revealed will. This is illustrated so beautifully by Jesus Christ who knew God the Father intimately and who said in John 8:29, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”

III. Step 3 - Receiving a heart changed by wisdom (Prv 2:9-11)

Explanation: Romans 8:29 makes so clear that God’s desire and plan for us is to be conformed to the image of his Son. As we seek wisdom, and we find that wisdom in God, we will receive a heart changed by that wisdom––by that intimate fellowship with God.

A. Dedicated to the right path (Prv 2:9)

Explanation: That heart will be dedicated to the right path. It is a path characterized by righteousness, justice, and integrity––EVERY good thing.

Explanation: The heart will be dedicated to a GOOD path, that is good because it serves the purpose for which it was designed by God!

B. Pleased by the wisdom of Yahweh (Prv 2:10)

Explanation: When you recalibrate your value system to prize wisdom and seek it, verse 10 is one of the results. When we are saved, God gives us a new heart, and as that heart continues to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 12:1–2), what Ray Ortlund says about this passage rings so true.

Quotation: “God is able to give your heart a new taste, a new relish, a new instinct for wisdom. If you want to be a better husband, if you want to get out of credit card debt, if you want to know how much TV to watch (or not watch), you do not need someone to beat you down with guilt and pressure. You do not need five easy steps to this or seven sure-fire principles for that. You need a new heart, new character, an awakening deep within. And God is saying, ‘If you will seek me, wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.’ Wise people do not pout and whine, ‘Do I have to?’ Their hearts are set free: ‘You mean I get to?’ They love the things of God as satisfying to the appetites of their renewed souls. They experience what Jesus said: ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied’ (Matthew 5:6).”

C. Preserved by the wisdom of Yahweh (Prv 2:11)

Explanation: As a mature Christian character is formed in you, you will begin to exhibit an ability to discern the difference between the many ungodly options in life that will present themselves to you and the godly path that God wants you to follow.

Application: Notice that this requires you to withstand temptation, not necessarily to escape temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13 makes this very clear: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Paul also emphasized this truth in Ephesians 6:10-18 as he writes about the spiritual warfare that the Christian undergoes and the armor that God has given to protect him.

Conclusion:

I wonder, what will you do with the Sage’s teaching here? Some of you will open your heart to it and follow it. Others will accept a counterfeit, still sincerely hoping that God will receive them. However, I point you to our Lord’s words in Matthew 7:21–29.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: