Stretching the leash to chase moral knowledge

 This week's verses are Proverbs 2:1-10:

My child, if you receive my words,
and store up my commands inside yourself,
by making your ear attentive to wisdom,
and by turning your heart to understanding,
indeed, if you call out for discernment—
shout loudly for understanding—
if you seek it like silver,
and search for it like hidden treasure,
then you will understand how to fear the Lord,
and you will discover knowledge about God.
For the Lord gives wisdom,
and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
He stores up effective counsel for the upright,
and is like a shield for those who live with integrity,
to guard the paths of the righteous
and to protect the way of his pious ones.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity—every good way.
For wisdom will enter your heart,
and moral knowledge will be attractive to you.

 Last time, we talked about cleaning the inside of the dish as well as the outside. But how do you get that wisdom to know how to obey God's commands at their core, and not just on the surface? The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom on how to seek God, and these verses are the perfect example of what to do.

Let's look at them. The first thing they say is to store up God's commands inside of you by making your ear attentive to wisdom, and by turning your heart to understanding. That's not a passive effort. The author is not telling us to just go to church once a week and buy the occasional Christian music album.

What does it mean to make your ear attentive to something? It could mean that you're actively listening, and not just passively hearing. And this isn't just sermons, but even life itself. What is God saying to you through your circumstances? What can you learn from world events? How is what you read in the Bible reflected in those things happening around you? Instead of just being a thing that lets you know when to pick your phone up, your ears now become tools for acquiring divine wisdom. This is good.

The word used for "turning" in "turning your heart to understanding" can also mean "stretching." So that, too, is active. Have you ever walked a dog and had them want to go check something out that wasn't on your planned path, or which they wanted to reach quicker than you wanted to get there? You know how they walk sideways, leaning with all of their dog-weight, stretching themselves and panting to get there? That's what I picture the heart doing in these verses. You want your heart (or mind, in modern terms) to exert great effort to arrive at the understanding that your human nature is in no hurry to reach.

Calling out for discernment and shouting out for understanding aren't passive either. The word for "shouting out" here is also used for noises made by animals. It is primal, the way a dog howls. And who better to call out to for these things than God? Or at very least your fellow Christians? Anything but staying silent and passive, expecting the wisdom of the ancients to infuse through your skull during a commercial break in the evening sitcoms.

We should be seeking divine wisdom like we would a precious metal. Like pirate treasure. Do we put the same effort into seeking God as we do our careers? Do we put as much thought and money into discovering the secrets of being a good Christian as we do into managing our retirement funds or finding deals?

The result of all of that is the fear of God, which doesn't really sound like something you would want, right? Who wants to be afraid? Being afraid isn't being comfortable. But this fear is a kind of respect, reverence, and awe. It's acknowledging the bigness of God, and his superiority as a being, and how much we need him. It's good fear, like what a small child has towards their loving parents.

Living according to how God has designed us to live brings all sorts of benefits. Not only are we better representatives of his kingdom that way, but things go better for us. We avoid some trouble, as though we were protected with a shield, or had a warning to route around disaster.

Learning God's divine wisdom also helps us to understand righteousness, justice, and equity. Most of the time nowadays when someone claims to understand righteousness, justice, and equity, it means they're consumed with breaking the law, carrying out vicious, multi-generational revenge, and singling people out for special treatment based on their gender and/or ethnicity. True righteousness, justice, and equity are a bit different, and we don't naturally gravitate to them without God's help.

When it says "wisdom will enter your heart, and moral knowledge will be attractive to you," the word for "attractive" is the same as used in a romantic sense. Imagine being attracted to doing the right thing as strongly as you might be attracted to the person you are in love with! It's almost beyond imagining! Imagine wisdom entering your heart and guiding your actions. Who wouldn't want either of those things?

So, make a point to direct your thoughts and senses towards learning more about God and how his world works. Do that, and you will have the tools you need to live the way God wants you to live, and to obey his commandments, and you'll see the blessings that come with it.