Proverbs 2:1-5

Proverbs 2:1-5 My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, (2) So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; (3) Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, (4) If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; (5) Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.

In the last chapter we saw that knowledge and wisdom begin with the Fear of the Lord, that awesome reverence and respect for the power and sovereignty of the Almighty God of the Universe. Here it seems like the Holy Spirit is answering the question, "How do I come to know the fear of God?"

1. Receive the Word of God. If we are going to come to a place of respect for and submission to the Lord, it is going to be because we see the Person and Glory of God. We can only see God through the drawing of the Holy Spirit and through the hearing and acceptance by faith of what is recorded in the pages of the Bible, the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Hebrews 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

2. Treasure God's commands. The simple truth is that our heart will be upon what we consider to be our treasure.

Luke 12:34 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We can only have one Master, and we serve what we love. If we hold dear and make important those words that are spoken to us by the Spirit and the Word of God, it shows that our heart is "toward" Him, that we're open to receive from Him, that we're willing to listen, that we see His Word to be the path to fearfully respecting and truly knowing Him.

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

3. Listen for God's Wisdom. If the "ear of our heart", that is our interest our desire, is to really know and understand His wisdom, it shows once again that our heart and mind is open to Who and What He is. Jesus said it this way.

Revelation 2:7 "He who has an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."'

4. Apply yourself. If we apply our heart to understanding, incorporating what we are seeing and hearing from the Word and the Spirit, we begin to take hold of that truth. It is called "taking ownership" in the business world, where one makes the issue their own and begins to do something about it. In a medical sense, If we begin to apply the ointment of God's Word to the open wounds of our unbelief and fearlessness, we begin to see God in a different light, we begin to see Him for Who He truly is.

5. Cry out for discernment and understanding. To cry out is to realize our fallen state and to recognize that we need something more, Someone more. If we openly, not just inwardly, desire to have discernment - an understanding of the truth, a realization of ourselves and God, He will hear our cry and answer.

Psalms 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.

6. Seek her as silver. Now that we have moved from listening and being open, from applying to crying out, we come to a place where we must reject where we are and who we are and seek God, we realize we must have Him. As a greedy man craves silver and hidden treasure and must search for it, since it has become his pursuit and love, if we crave our God with that same kind of passion and persistence and love, we will come to that place where we want to be, the place of understanding the Fear of the Lord.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (8) "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Acts 17:27 "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

7. The Fear of the Lord. As we've come from just listening to the Word of God to the place of truly needing God, we realize at once the smallness of self and the greatness and severity of God! As we've sought Him we've realized that we cannot stay where we are, but we must have the presence and peace and joy of His presence dwelling within us! We have come to a place where we are in awe of His creative power, His righteous justice, His incredibly patient and loving mercy, and His boundless and amazing Grace! We are truly in awe of Him and we can and must come prostrate before our God and Savior, our Lord and Master and King! Oh to know Him, to know the depth of His love for me!

8. Find knowledge of God. We last talked last time about a need to come to God in fear before we can have knowledge. That knowledge wasn't primarily in a sense of knowing information about God, but about knowing Him experientially, knowing Him day to day, about having intimate knowledge of Him, as a wife intimately knows her husband. May we know our God today!

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

John 17:25-26 "O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. (26) "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."