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AN UNDERSTANDING HEART
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14
Proverbs 8:5

1 Kings 3:5-10

 

“O ye simple… ye fools…”

 

AN UNDERSTANDING HEART
 
Wisdom is personified in Proverbs 8 as a woman lifting up her voice to  cry “at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors” (Prov 8:3). She exhorts all to hear, for she “will speak of excellent things; and… right things” (v 6). Surely wisdom and understanding are desirable to all of us, yet if we would possess them, we must take note of two things which are brought out in personified wisdom’s address.
 
First, the source of the address. Significantly, wisdom is pictured here as something external to man, calling for the attention of man. It does not lie within, but without; it is not something invented by man, or selfdefined, but something to be sought out and found. This external source of wisdom and understanding is God Himself (cf. vv 13, 22).
 
Second, we must realise the condition of those addressed. Wisdom does not here speak to the intelligent, or to the noble, or to the mighty ‒ but to  the “simple” and to the “fools.” Yet her address is to all mankind (v 4)! Dear reader, note well the link established in Scripture between wisdom and humility; and between foolishness and pride (cf. Prov 10:8, 11:2, 12:15, 15:33). Genuine understanding begins with the humbling recognition that of ourselves we are all simple and foolish. Only from this vantage point can we begin to seek the true wisdom that is to be found in God’s Word.
 
Would you be “of an understanding heart”? Then start with humility: let us confess that whatever our earthly expertise may be, with regard to spiritual truth and moral reality we are by ourselves fools. Thus prostrate before God, let us look to the Lord Jesus Christ, and find hid in Him “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). Let us look into God’s Word, and find contained therein all that is profitable for us to be “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim 3:16-17). Whatever the world may say, the truth of the matter is, an understanding heart is one that humbly treasures the truth of God’s Word, and faithfully applies it to every aspect of life.
 
THOUGHT: It has been said that the half of knowledge is knowing where to find it ‒ if so, the other half is knowing that you lack it.
PRAYER: “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart…” (1 Kings 3:9)

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