Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Would You Do For Wisdom? | The Writings | Proverbs 2

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

We'd sacrifice a lot of our own comfort, time, and energy for the right price. But what if there's something worth far more than money? Are you willing to relentlessly seek God's wisdom? In today's episode, Patrick shares how Proverbs 2 encourages us desire wisdom above everything else. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Proverbs 2

Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. What would you do if I told you that every time you said the phrase dog man in the next 24 hours, you'd earn $1,000. Well, if you're anything like me, you'd get some Red Bull and plan for a dog man marathon. It might cost me my sanity for a day, but I'd be set for life. Or what would you do if I told you that you'd get $5,000? for every time you cold plunged in the next month.

If you're anything like me, you'd be a master of the ice bath by the end of 30 days. Or what would you do? If I said I'd pay you $10 million not to drink caffeine for the next year. Well, my guess is that while it might be hard, you'd go caffeine-free. As much as we might not want to admit it, most of us are at least a little bit motivated by money. We understand that money is valuable because it represents something more than money. It represents safety, security, and stuff. There's a lot of valuable things we'll give up to get money, whether that's our sanity or our comfort or even caffeine.

And on a different podcast, we could evaluate whether money really does those things. And we could talk about what money does to our hearts. But today, I want to ask a different question. Is there anything else besides money that you would sacrifice a great deal to get? In Proverbs 2, verse 1, we read this. 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, indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God. In this passage, we see a father speaking to his son, and he's calling his son to seek wisdom. wisdom, understanding, and insight. And he doesn't simply say, work hard at it or be diligent in your pursuit. He says, imagine yourself trying to seek after a hidden treasure. Imagine yourself trying to earn a tremendous amount of money. And then he says, apply that same level of energy to your pursuit of wisdom and the knowledge of God. I find this so convicting because it would take very

little coaxing for me to cold plunge for cash. It's easy to seek after money, but do I have the same desire for wisdom? Do you have the same desire for wisdom? Do you see that it's more valuable than silver or gold, that it's to be sought after with greater intensity than cash or investments? The father in this passage knows that his son's heart is a lot like our hearts. He may wish that he wished to chase after wisdom, but he's still not sure that he really is. And so the father goes on to explain the value of wisdom. He's trying to wet his son's appetite for wisdom. He says this, Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice

in perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. So the chief value of wisdom is that it prevents you from unwittingly falling into the traps of evil and immorality. So often small wrongs, a little stealing, a little lying, a little gossiping, a little pornography, a little nicotine, turn into life-destroying wrongs. We're caught stealing, caught telling a big lie, caught spreading gossip and dissension, caught in an affair, caught in an addiction. The father is older, so he sees what his young son cannot see, that it's easier not to start down those paths than it is to turn back once you're already neck deep in. in the mire. And so he tells his son as a young man, seek after wisdom, avoid the pain of evil,

learn the joy of doing right. To hit the point home, he shows how wisdom protects us from the pitfalls of lust. This is an example of what wisdom does. So whether you're a man or a woman, the warning rings true. Verse 16, wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God, surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. Of course, the father is speaking of the way that lust gives birth to adultery,

but I think he's speaking of more than that. I think he's speaking of the way that all sin gives birth to death. This is why wisdom is so valuable because it protects us from becoming zombies. I know that sounds weird, but think about it. It protects us from becoming the living dead, those who walk through life but are empty and dead on the inside because of their sin. The father wants his son to live freely with a whole heart where what he says is good and right matches his actual life.

He wants his son to live with a whole heart, meaning that he's not living with secrets and shame. He wants his son to live with a whole heart, which means he wants him to experience a good life full of goodness. The father continues, thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land and the blameless will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the land and the unfaithful will be torn from it. The father isn't saying that we earn our salvation by being wise. After all, wisdom is a gift given by grace from God to those who seek after it. But he's also not pulling his punches here.

He says that if we ignore wisdom and walk down the path of foolishness, there are natural consequences. Thieves get thrown in jail. Adulterers lose their marriages and families. Addicts destroy their lives. And so he calls his beloved son to seek wisdom like silver and gold, like a hidden treasure. Why? Because this father loves his son. and he wants what's best for his son.

Do you realize that you, no matter your sin, no matter your addictions, no matter the foolish choices you've made, no matter what path you're going down, do you realize that you right now are a beloved son or daughter of God? You are a child of God and he desperately wants what's best for you. You may have already walked far down a path of foolishness, but your father would tell you it's never too late. You can turn back. So seek him.

seek after his wisdom like silver like gold like a hidden treasure receive his forgiveness enjoy the gift of life