Are You a Wisdom Seeker?

"My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
listening closely to wisdom
and directing your heart to understanding;

furthermore, if you call out to insight
and lift your voice to understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it like hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lordand discover the knowledge of God."

-Proverbs 2:1-5, HCSB

A few years back, I listened in on a conference via livestream. The speaker at this conference spoke on this passage, and he made an excellent observation. So today, I will share it with you.

Observe that I colored the "ifs" in the passage yellow, and "then" in lime. I want to draw you attention to these "ifs" and the "then." Perhaps you have heard of an if-then statement; if ______ happens, then ________ will occur. It is a pretty standard feature in philosophy and in creating formal arguments.  If Kentucky scores the most points, then Louisville will lose the game (I may be a bit bitter about Monday's game...). If I fail to water my plants, then they will likely die. If President Obama speaks, then Fox News will probably have something negative to say. All of these have been if-then statements, showing that a preceding event leads to a following event.

So, in Proverbs 2, we see a series of "ifs" followed by a "then." In fact, there are a lot of "ifs" that this passage implies that we should follow:

-If we accept His words
-If we store up His commands
-If we listen closely to wisdom
-If we direct our heart to understanding
-If we call out to insight
-If we lift our voice to understanding
-If we seek wisdom like silver
-If we search for wisdom like hidden treasure

That is a lot of conditions, right? There are quite a few "ifs" there, and usually, the more "ifs," the lower the chance of a "then" occurring. But, these "ifs" are all pointing to a similar thought pattern: "if you desire wisdom...." I didn't list a bunch of unrelated conditions; they are all extensions of a wisdom-seeker's heart. The wisdom-seeker accepts that God knows what is best, listening (not hearing, but hearing plus processing) to what God says and acts on the wisdom that they discover. The wisdom-seeker isn't passive, but instead is an explorer, traveling far and wide in search of wisdom. And this seeker is rewarded.

If we seek wisdom, then we will find it in fearing God and learning about Him. A fear of God (as discussed in my post on Proverbs 1:7, Fearing God) and acting on that fear is the path to wisdom. Verse 6 goes on to say that the Lord gives wisdom, and this is true. If we are following God, seeking to find wisdom through a healthy fear of Him, we will find it. That will be the natural result of this pursuit.

If we seek wisdom, we will find it. The question is: are you seeking?