Proverbs 2:1-9 – Seek for Wisdom as for Silver

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

This week’s Sunday School lesson examines Proverbs 2:1-9, which covers searching to know and understand the truth. It is designed to help teach you two key steps to move with wisdom.

Introduction

You say you want to know/understand the Lord, but what does your devotion say? 

As we saw in last week’s lesson – “The Wisdom of the Gospel” – many are quick to give up on their search for knowing the truth.  Well, searching to know the truth is searching to understand God and His way.  Do you think understanding God’s way will be an easy task? 

In this week’s lesson, we are going to examine the devotion that is required for one to know the Lord.  This week’s Sunday School commentary will cover Proverbs 2:1-9.

Why You Should Seek to Know God

Our lesson opens with one large statement from Solomon that is filled with multiple clauses that tie into one overall point.  Let’s take a look at this opening statement, which runs from Proverbs 2:1-5.

Solomon stated, “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 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.”

Solomon’s focus is that one ought to search to know the Lord out of fear.  When Solomon says to the son, or in this case, us readers, “treasure my commands within you,” we have to remember Solomon’s teachings from Proverbs 1.

In Proverbs 1:7, Solomon taught, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  He then said in Proverbs 1:26-27 that the one who despises God’s instructions will open the door to calamity coming upon them like a storm.  The calamity that Solomon spoke of was God’s judgment of sinful living.

In Proverbs 1:32-33, we’ll see that Solomon concluded the first chapter by saying, “For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”

God’s judgment is not something that anyone should take lightly!  God’s judgment is a condemning judgment where He will cast the sinner from His presence for eternity (Rev. 20:11-15).  Let us understand that being cast away from God means that one is being cast out from true peace, love, and joy.  

Hell is going to be a place filled with deep guilt, regret, and sorrow where there will be no relief, as God won’t be there to relieve anyone from the guilt of sin.  Do you desire to dwell in such a place for eternity?  If your answer is no, then you should fear God’s judgment.

The First Step to Gain Wisdom: Humility

Now, if you fear God’s judgment, what should you do in how you live?  You should seek to live in a manner that will please the Lord, right?

So, where do you turn to so that you can live in the manner to please the Lord?  I believe many of you would answer that question by saying you will turn to the Bible or go to church.  Yet, what if you open up your bible to read Scripture or sit in the church to listen, but you can’t understand?  What do you do then?

I know that many of you will say the very first thing you should do is open up your bible or go to church, but there’s a step that you must take before that.  Let me explain what I mean by this.

In last week’s lesson, we covered the difficulty of reading and studying to understand God’s word.  To understand Scripture, I taught that you have to first humble yourself.  If you approach Scripture filled with pride in what you think you already know, then you will never understand Scripture; it will sound like foolishness to you (1 Cor. 2:14).  

Humility is the first step you must take to learn the way that pleases God.  How can one learn without humility?  They cannot.

With humility in mind, let’s take a look at what is said in Proverbs 2:2.  Solomon said, “Incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding.”  When Solomon says, “Incline your ears”, he’s saying the same thing that James said when he said, “Be swift to hear, and slow to speak (Jas. 1:9).”  As the old saying goes, ‘You can’t learn if you’re always talking.’  

The one who is going to teach you and help bring clarity and understanding is the Holy Spirit.  Keep in mind, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity; God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Let me remind you that the Holy Spirit’s role is to lead us into all truth (John 16:13).  

Don’t you think you ought to listen to the Holy Spirit, or do you think you are wiser than the omniscient one?

Along those same lines, let’s note what Solomon said in Proverbs 2:3.  Solomon stated, “IF you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding…” 

This statement reminds us of what Solomon said wise people do in Proverbs 1:5.  Solomon said, “A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.”

Wise people don’t stop growing in their knowledge.  When learning, wise people aren’t so prideful that they won’t admit what they don’t know or don’t understand.  Wise people will ask for help and guidance.  

Let me say this to you:  If you desire to know and understand God’s way so that you may please Him, you are going to need help and guidance.  So, before you pick up your Bibles or even enter into the church, may I suggest that you first humble yourself?    

The Second Step to Gain Wisdom: Be Devoted

For the second step to understanding God’s way, let’s take a look at what Solomon says in Proverbs 2:4-5.  Solomon stated, “If you seek her (wisdom) as silver, and search for her (wisdom) as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

As pivotal as humility is to being able to know God’s way, your devotion to knowing the way of God is also pivotal.  You see, Solomon is speaking of devotion when he says, “Seek her (wisdom) as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure.”

Now, we need to understand what Solomon meant by the devotion he spoke of.  The reason why I say this is because so many of us think about time when we think about devotion.  Yet, I would tell you that true devotion goes beyond time.  Time is simply a byproduct of one’s devotion.

So, let’s take, for example, the devotion of seeking wisdom as silver, and searching for wisdom as for hidden treasure.  Many wake up early in the morning grinding and hustling for earthly riches, and will hustle late into the night trying to gather those riches.

Now, why do so many spend so much time grinding and hustling for earthly riches?  There’s the belief that great wealth can make life a lot easier.  Yet, as we saw in the Sunday School Lesson – Wisdom and Money, money’s power is limited, especially compared to the power of God.

When Jesus spoke of one’s devotion towards God, He spoke of one’s love for the Lord.  In Matthew 6:33, we will see that Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”  

For some, silver and gold are their top priority for what they believe silver and gold can do in their life.  For the believer, Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God and His righteousness ought to be our main devotion.

Are you familiar with the teaching of putting God first?  Putting God first should not be taken as a literal thing where, for example, the first thing you do in the morning is God-related.  Putting God first means that you seek to live by God’s way over any other doctrine.

Jesus also said that we should lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven and not on earth, as He noted that where your treasure is, that is where your heart is also (Matt. 6:20-21).

So, to truly know the Lord, you have to devote yourself to knowing Him.  This means you must not permit yourself to be distracted and taken away from knowing God.  Set your heart to know the Lord.

If You Seek, You Will Find

As we take a look at these closing verses, the proverb says, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes 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 (Prov. 2:6-8).

This proverb speaks to the faithfulness of the Lord.  Some suggest that God hides wisdom from us, but this is not true.  God will not have you be ignorant if you humble yourself and devote yourself to knowing Him.

I am reminded of Jesus’ teaching from Matthew 7:7-8. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

Wisdom is not hidden from those who thirst and hunger for it (Is. 55:1).  However, wisdom is hidden from the wise and prudent of the world (Matt. 11:25).  Now, when Jesus thanked the Father that such knowledge had been hidden from the wise and prudent, He wasn’t speaking in a manner that God had hidden it in a deep, dark hole.

Paul often explained that the word of God was a mystery to those who refuse to understand it.  Keep in mind how Paul spoke of how God had made foolish the wisdom of the wise and prudent by giving His only begotten Son.  Paul and others preached the gospel truth, but to the Jews who sought a sign, the gospel was a stumbling block, and to the Greek philosophers, the gospel was foolish (1 Cor. 1:22-24).

Jesus proclaimed that He is the light of the world who revealed the truth (John 8:12).  Yet, the revelation of the truth was despised by the world because the truth preaches against the way of the world.  The truth is hidden from the wise and prudent because they cannot understand it, not because God hasn’t revealed it.

So, what does this mean for you?  The truth can not only be found, it can also be understood.  You can know the Lord if you desire to know Him.  If you desire to know the Lord, humble yourself and devote yourself to learning Him.  

The Lord rewards such faith and will lift you up.  The proverb says, “You will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path (Prov. 2:9).”  When you have such an understanding, then you ought to walk in that understanding.  Yes, you ought to live faithfully according to the way you have learned.