1) My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2) So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3) Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4) If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5) Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

My my my! That’s quite a list. How does one read this and not question whether they have any real godly wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. If attainment is based on our fervency, we’re in trouble. There are a lot of ifs there; and a lot of action needed on our part:

  1. Recieve my words… Hide my commandments…
  2. Incline thine ear unto wisdom… Apply thine heart to understanding…
  3. Criest after knowledge… Liftest up thy voice for understanding
  4. Seekest her as silver… Searchest for her as hid treasures

Most people have never got past the first half of the first verse. Recieve my words can be done just attending church and listening. The second half is hiding my commandments which may be committing scripture to memory. Who does that? And then it just gets more serious. That’s why I say alot of people never get past the first verse. So how much wisdom, knowledge, and understanding do we really have, I wonder?

These first five verses are pretty convicting. It brings to mind a simple question: How bad do you want it!? How bad to you want to get to the fifth verse? Let’s think about this for just a moment. If these first four verses are a progression of ones desire to know God, how far have we progressed? If those are four ladder rungs, then which rung are we on? Can I say this? If you can not sit in the house of God and listen to the man of God preach and receive my words as the scripture says, you have not even begun. Can I go further? If our church attendance is the entire manifestation of our desire to find the knowledge of God, then we have barely begun.

But at the same time, how glorious the thought that there’s more more more about God that must be obtained. If you’re on the first rung and you’re thrilled about Jesus, thrilled about His love, thrilled about His book, can you imagine the wonderous things that God has yet to show you. If we can some how just step it up for God.

Rung 1

This is getting under the preaching of the Word of God, reading your bible, and memorizing the scriptures. You can never get too much of any of this. Do it! Do it! Do it!

Rung 2

This is making a conscience decision that there is something important and beneficial that must be heard. There is something important and beneficial that must be understood. There is application to the scriptures. There are answers to our questions. That means we must have a desire to apply the scriptures. And there must grow within us a dissatisfaction of ignorance. There’s humility in this in admitting that you are lacking. This depicts an internal moving and change of oneself.

Rung 3

Now, it goes with out saying: Pray for wisdom and the knowledge of God. But that’s not what it says. The scripture says to cry and lift up thy voice. I want to say that it’s going to take more than just praying for something, but rather there is gonna have to be something in that prayer. The third verse implies that it’s more than just a desire, but an ardent need. The third verse implies that there is a struggle for what you desire. It demonstrates a pain and remorse to be in want; to lack what you ask for. It demonstrates that one is in agony or in anguish over their need.

Rung 4

This fourth rung is a bit different. The first three are somewhat passive. The first, we receive and hide the word of God. The second, something happens in our heart to desire the knowledge of God. The third, desire turn to desperation. But the fourth, brings forth real work, time, and effort. Break out the search party, the metal detectors, the back-hoes, and the boots. Dig! Dig! Dig! There’s no waiting, no pondering, no asking. It’s Go. It’s Dig. Examine. Take. Dig, Gather, Search! It’s riches! Time is spent. Money is spent. Life is spent. Why? To get that silver. To get that hid treasure. It’s an exciting, mysterious, glorious expedition!

Verse 5

I like the perpetual nature of understanding God. After receiving and hiding, inclining and applying, crying, seeking and searching for wisdom, for knowledge, for understanding, the bible plainly declares what you will finally then understand: the fear of the Lord. And this is most certainly not the end, but just merely the beginning. (Proverbs 1:7) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. 

I seriously doubt that we can ever reach an end to the knowledge and understanding of God. Even at the end of this life’s journey, when we meet him face to face, the ages will roll on and so will our knowledge and understanding of God. If we grow closer in knowledge and understanding of our spouses in this temporal life, how much more will we grow in the knowledge of our beloved, Jesus Christ, in the eternal. We will soar to the greatest heights of wonder and love. And after a million years, we’ll take a deep breath and go on higher and higher. How bad do you want it? How bad do you want to reach verse five? Then shalt that understand…