Light Steps: Get wisdom, get understanding...

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Get wisdom, get understanding...

Of getting wisdom and understanding, John Gill said, "Not only moral and political wisdom and understanding, but that which is spiritual and evangelical; Christ, and the knowledge of him; he being the only happy man that has an interest in him, and is possessed of him by faith, which is the meaning of getting him." (from Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Gill was commenting on Proverbs 4:5, which commands, "Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth." (Proverbs 4:5 ESV)

And, when you get it or some or any, "do not forget" and "do not turn away."

We like to hunt and shop and search and inquire. We love, as the Apostle Paul said to the philosophers in Athens, to spend our "...time in nothing except telling or hearing something new" (see Acts 17:21).

We love the search, but for what? Are all new things full of wisdom and understanding? You bet not.

Are stores and websites and books and magazines and movies and songs all full of wisdom and understanding? You bet not.

Wisdom comes from the Lord. Understanding is a thing of God.
Go to Him...
Get wisdom!
Get understanding!

Listen, beloved, wisdom and understanding are worth getting! The previous chapter finds the proverb writer saying: "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed." (Proverbs 3:13-18 ESV)

If nothing else, getting wisdom and understanding is worth it to me because I love that "all her paths are peace" (vs. 13:17).

Go look...seek...search...inquire with the Lord! Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget it! Do not turn away!

No comments:

Post a Comment

This Says it for Me!

Every Christian is a contradiction to this old world. He crosses it at every point. He goes against the grain from beginning to end. From the day that he is born again until the day that he goes on to be with the Lord, he must stand against the current of a world always going the other way. God expects him to be "beside himself," "a fool for Christ's sake," "drunk on new wine." If he allows it, men will tone him down, steal the joy of his salvation, and reduce him to the dreary level of the general average. If the devil cannot keep us from being saved, he next endeavors to make average Christians of us, and in this he usually succeeds. He tames the holy recklessness of God's dare-saints until they sink into the drab pattern of most of us, "faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly dull." The devil does not mind our joining church if we behave like most of those who are already inside. But when a real, wide-awake Christian breezes along, taking the Gospel seriously, the devil grows alarmed and begins plotting his downfall. He gets plenty of assistance right in the church, for many church folk do not like to have their Laodicean complacency upset by these who turn the world upside down. So they conspire with Satan to turn the young Christian's fever into a chill. There are always plenty of human wet blankets to smother the zealot's flame, and they have put out more spiritual fires than have all the skeptics and infidels. -- Vance Havner

A Little About Me...

I was born in South Boston, VA, but was raised on the state line in the Person Co., NC - Caswell Co., NC - Halifax Co., VA region. I always tell people you know you are a country boy when your idea of being a "multi-national" means you've been to three counties in your lifetime.

Enough of my geographical meanderings...I became a Christian (ask me about THAT!) at the age of 25 and have done my utmost to serve God since that day. I worked as an associate pastor for 4 1/2 years and now serve in the role of Executive Director of My Life Matters, where I've been since March 2005, and I also serve as the pastor of East Rock Community Church, a church plant, along with fellow elders, Brett Carver & Casey Adams, where we've been since June 2007.

I love to write. I share a devotion in our local paper each week. This blog site is really just an extension of my writing. I really hope to share the Word of God with people...any kind of people, every kind of person. I also do a weekly podcast called "Light Steps Live," which can be found on several platforms.

Thanks for "stopping by"! Y'all come back now, ya hear?