Prepare
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for this day and for the blessing of sitting at your feet. Make us like children listening to their Father: help us hear your Word, take it to heart, and follow you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
The Value of Wisdom
2 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;
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
8 He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Pr 2:1–9.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
A father calls his son to receive and treasure God's commands, incline his ear, apply his heart, cry for discernment, and seek wisdom like hidden silver. Such earnest pursuit leads to the fear and knowledge of God, from whose mouth wisdom comes and who shields, guards, and preserves his saints in righteousness and justice.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Proverbs 2:4-6
Bryan explicitly says verses 4-6 are underlined in his Bible, with additional side markings beside verses 7-9. Verses 4-6 summarize the active search for wisdom that leads to knowing God as the giver of knowledge and understanding.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Pursue wisdom and understanding as earnestly as a miner searches for hidden treasure. Seek the Lord in his Word, asking him to care for and preserve you as you walk in the deep things of God.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Well, good morning and welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so good to have you today. This is where every day we get together. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature.
Well, this morning we are at Psalm 2, the first nine verses. Psalm 2, the first nine verses. Thanks so much for joining me this morning. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the blessing it is to sit at your feet, and Lord, we pray that we would be like children listening to our Father. We pray that we would hear your word, that we would listen to your voice, and we would take it and take it to heart. We will follow after you in Jesus' name. Amen.
So good to have you with us this morning. Proverbs chapter 2, the first nine verses. My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and if you lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her 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. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good. path.
Well, we need to ask ourselves quickly, A, what is this about? B, what is the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So A, what is this about? Well, this is God once again saying, listen, right? Come, sit, treasure these things up in your heart. This is the father telling his son, hey, Listen and bury it in your heart.
Take these things and hold them as treasures and you'll get understanding. Go search for wisdom. Go find understanding. Go cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding. And this isn't just like a passive thing, no, what does it say in verses four and five? If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, right, if you'll invest in mining the depths and going after wisdom, If finding understanding, finding discernment, then what will you find?
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Right? Because when we search for wisdom and understanding, for insight, the Lord, it leads us to the Lord. It leads us to God. And there, he stores up sound wisdom from the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice. He preserves the way of the saints. See, it's God. When we go after understanding and wisdom, it's God who preserves us and cares for us.
I need to stop and say something real quick. It's easy to read the Proverbs as absolute promises rather than proverbial principles. In a general sense, all these things that we're going to go through in Proverbs are true, but they are principles, not promises. There are many times that people will get thrown off by the book of Proverbs because, well, I did this, and so God must do that. No, these are principles. The Lord is sovereign. The Proverbs aren't just some, you know, instruction books that, you know, A equals B, but generally it's true. These are proverbial truths.
So seek understanding and the Lord will protect you. It's amazing how many people, when they come to Jesus Christ and their lives are turned around and they repent of different sins, especially people who repent of being addicted to certain substances, They find their lives changed. They find their lives better. Even their health is better because they're seeking understanding. They're seeking after the Lord.
Well, I think the best verse here I have underlined in my Bible, verses 4, 5, and 6. And then I have a couple lines next to 7, 8, and 9. But let me know what would you underline down in your Bible. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we pray that we would seek wisdom, that we would go after understanding like a miner goes down into the depths of the earth. We pray that we would seek after you and that you would care for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may God bless you today. May you walk in joy and peace as you seek after the deep things of God. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.