Proverbs 2:1-5

“My son, if you receive my words

    and treasure up my commandments with you,

² making your ear attentive to wisdom

    and inclining your heart to understanding;

³ yes, if you call out for insight

    and raise your voice for understanding,

⁴ if you seek it like silver

    and search for it as for hidden treasures,

⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord

    and find the knowledge of God.”

Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV

This is a beautifully constructed “if … then” proverb. In other words, if you do this, then this will happen. When I notice an if/then statement, I often jump to the “then” clause to see the payoff. Sometimes I disregard the conditions altogether, focusing only on the benefit I expect to receive. Of course that approach is silly. How can I expect the benefit(s) of an if/then statement if I give no attention to the conditions of that statement?

In this proverb the payoff is huge: “then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” This should be the active goal of every person. But what are the conditions? We will work through them one at a time.

The first condition: If you want to understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, the first thing you need to do, the writer says, is “receive my word and treasure up my commandments with you.” These are heart matters. We need hearts that are receptive to wisdom, seeking wisdom. Then, we need to recognize the value of wisdom (i.e., treasure). Do you think of wisdom simply as something that would be good to have or is it an essential thing. This proverb suggests that we need to see wisdom as essential. The writer reiterates this thought in 7:1. “My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you.”

How is your heart condition as it relates to wisdom? Are you ready to receive it and treasure it?