The Book Of Proverbs

WCC Community Group Study

The Text

Proverbs 2:1-7 (ESV)

1 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.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Insight & Breakdown

I remember when I first started understanding “the fear of the Lord”. I was attending a church that didn’t teach the gospel. I was a teenager, and I was feeling lost and confused in life. I cried out by my bedside to God, asking for him to show me himself and greater understanding about him. One thing led to another, and the gospel was presented to me. The rest is history ! I’m glad he answered my Understanding in terms of the important things in life is hard to come by, isn’t it? There are so many voices trying to persuade us that their message is right biased news media, biased friends and family I even remember my schoolteacher telling me things about the world as if they were facts only later to find out they weren’t true. As individuals we also are tempted to think our way is best and that we know it all. We see things through our own lens and have difficulty seeing things any other way. However, this text is teaching us to seek understanding. Let’s make some observations about the text. Verse two says, inclining your heart to understanding”. It’s something we must intentionally turn our heart to. Verse 3 literally says to call out for it. Verse 4 talks about seeking it “like silver”. Did you know that silver was actually very rare and scarce in the geographical area at that time? Solomon, however, had a lot of silver. So how did he get it? It is widely understood that he got it through gifts from foreign lands and through trade. So it might be that seeking understanding like silver means that it doesn’t come from within . That is worth reflection. Verse 5 holds an interesting promise, that if we seek understanding in the ways described then we understand the “fear of the Lord”. Verse six says it is the Lord who gives wisdom and it’s from his mouth that we get knowledge and understanding. This makes me thankful that we have the scriptures. We obviously can’t trust ourselves, the media, our family and friends, teachers, or any source to be the ultimate source of truth in our lives but we can trust the one who wisdom truly comes from God and if wisdom comes from his mouth, w e should be passionate about seeking truth from his word. Are we always as passionate about this as we are other things in life?

Application

This passage is teaching that we should be passionate about seeking truth from God. With so
many distractions in life, it helps to think about how we spend our time. Here’s a challenge go to your
phone settings and look at screen time most phones have an account of how much and in what
ways you are spending time on your phone. It may look something like this:

If you aren’t a technology user, you can substitute an estimation time spent on fiction novels, television, or whatever entertainment or hobby you choose. How does it compare to time spent in prayer, worship, or
scripture? Does this comparison point to a passionate pursuit of understanding of God or a passionate pursuit of self gratification? Reflect on this.

Questions For Reflection And Discussion

1. If you could put the big idea of this passage into one sentence what would it be?

1. What does it look like to “incline your heart” to understanding?

1. What has been the messaging from the multiple influences in your Christian life so far regarding the balance of emotion/relationship with the pursuit of knowledge ? Has it leaned towards one or another? What do you think our messaging should be as individuals and as a church regarding the balance?

1. How does living out the “fear of the Lord” look different than life that’s seeking the world’s understanding?

1. What’s one thing you can change in your routine to more passionately pursue understanding of God?

Notes