To me, the entire chapter reads like a promise. A conditional, if/then promise, but a promise nevertheless. And what a promise!

Who wouldn’t want to:

• understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God (v.5)?
• understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path (v.9)?
• escape the allurement of like-taking sin (v.16)?
• walk in the way of the good, keep to the paths of the righteous (.v20)?

I’ll take it!

So if that’s the “then”, then what’s the “if”? Chewing on it this morning.

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then . . .

(Proverbs 2:1-4 ESV)

The LORD gives wisdom (v.6), ours is to go get it. Tuning our ears to detect it, directing our hearts toward it. Raising our voices to heaven as we call out for it. Seeking and searching for it. And when we find some it, receiving it and treasuring it. Talk about your “active listening.”

So how does the LORD give wisdom? Where do we go to find it? Jesus!

Because of [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

(1Corinthians 1:30 ESV)

Jesus is wisdom. And through faith in Him and the finished work of His cross, we are in Him and, by His Spirit, He is in us. We are in close proximity to wisdom — like really close! Ours then is to, through the written word, make every effort to increase in our understanding of Him as the Living Word. And that as if we were seeking the most valuable of treasure.

Far from just a set of facts to know or a dogma to believe, growing in “the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pet. 3:18) is the way of wisdom. The way of flourishing. The way to walk as we were created to walk, to work as we were created to work, and to worship as we were created to worship.

Who wouldn’t want that? I sure do.

And it all starts with active listening. My holy determination, His enabling and guiding Spirit. My feeble attempts at seeking, His faithful work in me for finding.

Only by His grace. Would it be to His glory.