Read Genesis 20, Nehemiah 9 and Proverbs 2.
This devotional is about Proverbs 2.
Proverbs 1:20-33 compared wisdom to a woman and said that she calls out in public and offers herself to anyone who needs her. So, wisdom isn’t hard to find; instead, it is everywhere and available. That’s what Proverbs 1 said, anyway.
Here in Proverbs 2, Solomon encouraged his son to “call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding” in verse 3. In verse 4, Solomon told his son to look for wisdom “as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure….” This leaves us with the impression that wisdom is hard to find. If it needs to be sought and searched for like gold and silver, then it isn’t as easy to find as it is to find sand on the beach.
So, why the seeming contradiction? Why does Proverbs 1 say that wisdom is everywhere yet Proverbs 2 says that you need to search hard for it?
The answer is that wisdom is everywhere, but people don’t see it because they don’t value it like they do silver and gold, and so they are not looking for it at all. Have you ever driven by a business over and over again without realizing it was even there–until you had a need?
Many, many years ago, our vacuum cleaner broke. I didn’t know how to fix it. I didn’t want to buy a new one. But how do you find someone who can fix a vacuum cleaner? Well, you can search the Internet or (back in the day) look in the yellow pages. I did the former and found out there was a vacuum cleaner repair store just about 3 miles from my house. I looked at the address and Google maps and thought, “I’ve never seen this place. Is it really still there?” Then I drove there and, sure enough, it was there, it was open, and an employee there fixed my vacuum cleaner. I’d driven past this store many, many times, but I never saw it because I wasn’t looking for it.
This is how wisdom is. It’s available everywhere and it is calling out to every fool who needs it, as we learned in Proverbs 1. But, because most people are not looking for it, they can’t even see it. If you are going to become wise, you have to WANT to become wise. You have to look for it carefully, like you would a lost AirPod or a missing earring.
You also have to ask God for it which is stated plainly in James 1:5 but also indicated here in Proverbs 2:3 which tells us to “call out” and “cry aloud” for wisdom. To whom are we crying out and calling aloud? To God! Verse 6 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” This explains why people are not looking for wisdom. We want to live by our sinful delusions, not by God’s commandments. We see people break God’s laws and suffer for it all the time (see verses 12-19), but we want to “delight in doing wrong” (v. 14) and we believe we will get away with it.
Remember that in Proverbs 1, woman wisdom rebukes the fool and calls him to repentance. Here in Proverbs 2, the person who needs wisdom is told to call out to the Lord for it. You will never be wise if you live by your own assumptions and desires. Your heart will lead you into the ways of wicked men (vv. 12-15) and wicked women (vv. 16-19). Like them, you will be “cut off” and “torn from” God’s blessings (v. 22).
Do you want to be wise? Love the Lord, live by his ways, ask for his wisdom and “walk in the ways of the good…the paths of the righteous” (v. 20). Repent now of the sins you’re living in; forsake them, seek the Lord’s forgiveness in Christ, then learn to live an obedient life.
This is God’s fool proof path to wisdom (vv. 9-10).