IF THEN
Proverbs 2:1-6 NKJ
1 My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her as silver,
And search for her 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;
So much of life is conditional. If you do this, then you’ll have that. If you do excellent work, then you’ll open the door to promotion. If you ask questions, then you will gain insight. If you eat only burgers and fries, then you’ll be buying pants with elastic waistbands. We can do if/then all day. The scriptures hold many conditional promises. If you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, then He will exalt you in due time. If you seek, then you’ll find.
In today’s verses, we see the conditions to gaining in the wisdom and knowledge of God. This has nothing to do with luck or genetics. These verses show us the conditional path to godly wisdom.
Many of the proverbs take on the tone of a father talking to his son. Bible scholars believe that David was involved in Solomon’s life. We can take these lessons to heart as if our Heavenly Father is speaking to us, His children. If we receive His words and treasure His commandments within us. God’s wisdom is revealed to us in His living word. If we ignore His words, wisdom will not be coming our way. The tone behind receiving God’s words is one where we are placing a high value on understanding what God is saying to us. We are not casual. We are tuning our ears to hear His wisdom and thinking about how it applies to our lives.
If we cry out for discernment and lift up our voice for understanding. I do not believe God wants us to beg for discernment and understanding, but there does need to be a desire. We want to know and understand. This desire is underscored in verse four. If we seek wisdom as we would silver and search for wisdom as we would hidden treasure. If we have a desire for something, we know how to seek and search. Many of us can say that when we were looking for some item to buy, we put a great amount of effort into seeking and searching. Thank you, internet. But I believe I am not the only one who has spent hours looking and researching. We know how to seek. Solomon is saying that the pursuit of God’s wisdom is a similar process. Seeking and searching is intentional. And we are intentional because we place a high value on God’s wisdom.
So with this focused mindset of receiving, treasuring, pursuing, and searching, we come to the then. If we do these things, then we will understand the fear of the Lord. Then, we will find the knowledge of God. Because the Lord gives wisdom. I love that. If we show interest, desire, and respect for God’s wisdom, we will find it because the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. We are not endlessly searching for wisdom and knowledge that does not exist. If we seek, we will find.
APPLICATION
It’s a prudent idea to occasionally do a personal desire audit as it pertains to God’s Word. I can remember when I first came back to the Lord and was so hungry to read my Bible and listen to messages. But life has a way of dulling our desire. We have to stir ourselves up to pursue God and His word as we would valuable treasure. It’s there for us, if.