“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2: 1-5 NIV
“Then you will understand what is right and just and fair –every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways. Who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, and whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.” Proverbs 2: 9-15 NIV
Years ago, I badly wanted to go
into business. I was obsessed with ears and wrist accessories by then and it
was the current rage so I thought that since I’m creative (Everybody says so,
and I’d let it go to my head, shame on me!) I went with my friend to buy raw
stuffs like beads, strings and locks. You won’t believe how much those things
cost! My cash was down to half after hours of risking blisters on our feet just
to find the materials we needed. So, there we were, pretty cocky that we got good
prices and now have our “business” materials, only we forgot one essential
thing. We had no business plan.
I was reminded of this “leap-before-you-think”
attitude when I started re-reading the book of Proverbs. It opened with a father
giving words of wisdom to his son and then reverted into a personification of
wisdom as a woman on the streets calling out to people to hear what she had to
say and no one bothered to. Sadly, it immediately reminded me how our
generation today reacts like that. We couldn’t be bothered. We’re so intent on
doing “our” thing—the Dream—that we forget to stop and listen to Wisdom. Not
just anybody’s wisdom, but God’s.
Then by Chapter 2, it was once
again the father speaking and he was now listing down the benefits of wisdom if
only the son will accept it. Would he? The father was not sure. There was that conspicuous
word “if.” Nonetheless, he went out to list down all the benefits of wisdom if
the son would choose to have it.