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?

Fearing God

"The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge."

-Proverbs 1:7, HCSB

This idea of "fearing God" is something I have just recently started pondering on. It is a foreign, understudied concept for many of us. I mean, doesn't Jesus want to be our Friend and Father? Why does the Bible encourage fear of God?

It all lies in our definition of fear. When Scripture talks about fearing God, there is more to it than the quaking, trembling sensation that we feel when a wolf is bearing down on us (what, that's never happened to you?). Instead, it is a far larger concept.

Robert Strimple described it as a "convergence of awe, reverence, adoration, honor, worship, confidence, thankfulness, love, and, yes, fear." C.S. Lewis described a person who fears the Lord like this: "...one filled with awe, in which you feel wonder and a certain shrinking or a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant of or prostration before it."

I have been reading R.C. Sproul's book The Holiness of God, and a large focus of this book is the fear of God. You see, God is holy, and holy is a big descriptor. Holy means more than just pure, although that is certainly part of it. Holy literally means "separate." God is separate from everything and everyone else. There is nothing like Him or even close to being Him. He is completely separate and set aside from the world, so there is no sin in Him. He is an entity that we cannot even fathom, and even to say this has really been a bit of a struggle for me. God's holiness isn't just hard to define, though; it is even harder to approach.

In Isaiah 6, we see the prophet Isaiah before the throne of the Lord. The angels and other beings are flying all about, praising God and His holiness. God is in His full glory, beaming in holiness on His throne. Isaiah, the prophet of God, responds to this immersion in holiness by dropping to the ground in worship, and yes, fear of the Lord.

Isaiah, when confronted by the holiness of God, didn't have any other response other than "woe is me!" He was overcome with everything Robert Strimple mentioned in his definition of fearing God: he was filled with awe, reverence, honor, fear and worship to start, and once he realized that God wasn't going to smite him on sight for his sin, he experienced adoration, confidence, thankfulness and love. Isaiah feared the Lord.

I've gone through all of this to get back to my focus verse for today, Proverbs 1:7. This verse is considered the theme verse for the book of Proverbs, and it is huge. If fearing God is the beginning of knowledge, then we need to fear God. We need Isaiah's approach to God. We need to look at God with awe, worship, adoration, confidence, love, honor, thankfulness and even an element of fear. He may be our Father and Friend, but He is also our Creator God.

Sovereign Lord.

King of Kings.

Ruler of Everything.

Punisher of Sin.

Holy, righteous, pure.

This is the God we serve, this is the God that has saved us from our sins. Let's look at Him through the lens of all that He is, not just a portion of it. He's a holy God; let's live lives that reflect a fear of the Lord. He commands no other response.