Thursday Devotion

By Steven Grace

Topic: Wisdom/Learning

Verse: Proverbs 8

(32-36) :“Now then, my children, listen to me;  blessed are those who keep my ways. ³³ Listen to my instruction and be wise;  do not disregard it. ³⁴ Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. ³⁵ For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord. ³⁶ But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.”

Several years ago, as I was discussing my spiritual journey with a pastor, I mentioned that I felt my knowledge of the Bible was inadequate—I knew the main stories of the New Testament, but couldn’t quote specific verses, or tie things back to the Old Testament. His suggestion: start by reading one Proverb per day. Since there are 31 Proverbs, most months it works out to getting through the entire book. Plus, each one provides valuable insight into living a God-like life. I did that for a while, and then have moved on to some other ways of exploring the Bible, so I don’t necessarily read Proverbs often. But, I decided to bring up today’s, and found Wisdom, calling out to the people. (Please, follow the link or pull out your Bible and read the entire chapter—I just highlighted the last four verses).

As I got to thinking about wisdom and knowledge, I think about all the areas of life where we strive for more. I went to college to learn about a variety of topics; when I started working I trained on how to do my job correctly; when I started my own business, I never stop learning (!); when I prepare for a sports broadcast, I learn players’ names and teams’ tendencies. Why? All of this is so I can do my job better.

So what about our “job” as Christians? We all know that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and strength (Deut. 6:5). But how do we do that? There are a million ways: Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8); go make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19); feed His sheep (John 21:16). Those are all good ways to actively love God. But we also need to learn more about what God wants from us. And to do that, we need to act like we’re in school again: we must read God’s textbook, the Bible.

“For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord. But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:35-36) We must thirst for God’s direction; we must quench that thirst with knowledge and wisdom. It won’t happen overnight, but if we each re-commit ourselves to learning what God wants from us (reading a Proverb-a-day; finding one or more daily devotions to read; joining or creating a Bible study to learn about different parts of the Bible), then we can gain the knowledge and wisdom to receive the favor of the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for sharing your Word with us through the Bible. Help us to learn from it and grow closer to you, that we may find Life in you. Amen.