Nuggets from Proverbs

Day 23 – Wisdom, Knowledge, Discretion and Understanding

It is God who gives wisdom, according to Prov. 2:6. However, God won’t cram that wisdom down our throats! We must first allow His wisdom from the Word to enter our hearts. We can read and read the Bible, but if we do not let it take root in the heart and apply it to our lives, we won’t glean from God’s wisdom.

The same applies to knowledge. How many times have you read a history lesson in preparation for a test? After reading it through once, did you remember all the dates? Did you remember every single event? Of course not. To truly glean from that history lesson, you had to read it a few times, memorize dates, places, people and events, right? More importantly, did you remember any of it two weeks after the test? If you were anything like me, probably not.

It’s the same application with the Word of God. Unless we approach God’s Word with the same fervency, how can we glean? How can we walk away with the knowledge that will be pleasant to our soul, according to Prov. 2:10? If you are like many Christians, you walk away from your time in the Word and forget what you read in a day or possibly sooner. It’s not until the Word enters our heart that we are promised its fruit. How does the Word “enter our heart”? It enters by applying it to our daily lives, learning from it through studying, gleaning from it, and memorizing it.

I love the results of the efforts made by the believer to get wisdom and knowledge. The believer receives discretion and understanding. Not only that, both are promised to preserve and keep him! Preserve and keep him from what, you make ask? Verses 12-19 list what this believer will be kept from. In essence, the believer who seeks wisdom and knowledge will not only receive discretion and understanding, but will be kept from evil. The believer won’t be so quick to willfully sin because he has received wisdom and knowledge and is keeping himself from sin. Is that as clear as mud?

Great promises await us when we allow God to do His work in our lives.

Dear God…
May my heart be open
To what You want to teach
Keep me from hard heartedness
So I can grow in Thee