“Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”
– Proverbs 2:3–5
What a picture of the pursuit of wisdom, and the reward of wisdom. So what is the reward of wisdom? Very end of this passage. You understand the fear of the Lord. You will find the knowledge of God. This is what we need most in our lives. What you need most in your life today, what I need most of my life today, is the knowledge of God. Think Jeremiah 9.
Lord help us to boast only in knowing You. We trust that knowing You is the reward of wisdom.
Proverbs 2:3–5 Boasts that We Know God
“Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the rich man boast in his riches, let not the mighty man most of his might, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. That I am the Lord who executes steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things, I delight, declares the Lord.”
Let your boast today be that you know God, like that’s what’s most important. That’s going to affect every facet of our lives, the knowledge of God. So when you seek wisdom, remember what the book of Proverbs teaches? This is such a great picture. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And then, what verse five in Proverbs 2 says, is that when you seek wisdom, you will understand the fear of the Lord and you’ll find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:3–5 Reminds Us to Fear of the Lord Leads to Wisdom
So the fear of the Lord leads to wisdom, and getting wisdom leads to the fear of the Lord. Like they go together. The ultimate goal is to know God, to walk in fear of, reverence for all of God, to experience and enjoy and exalt God. Like, this is life. It’s our greatest in our lives today.
So, this passage says, seek wisdom like it’s silver. Search for it like it’s a hidden treasure, like you want it. I think about when I hide a treasure for my youngest kids, and they’re eagerly looking all over the house, turning things upside down to try to find this treasure. Search for wisdom like that. Call out for insight. Raise your voice for understanding.
Asking God for Understanding
So I think it makes a lot of sense based on this word from God to pray. God, right now we call out for insight. We raise our voice for understanding. Please give us understanding. Please give us insight, please give us your wisdom. Help us to live wisely today. God, we seek your wisdom like it’s silver. We search for it like it’s a hidden treasure. And yet we know, we know you’re a gracious God who dispenses wisdom, so we don’t ultimately have to try to find it here or there, because you give it to us.
So we seek what you give, we receive what you give, and as we receive it, we pray that you’d help us to grow in our understanding of the fear of you, and that we would find the knowledge of you. God, we pray that at the end of today, we would know you more than we do right now. And we pray that the end of tomorrow, we would know you more than we did at the start of tomorrow.
God, may our lives continually grow in the knowledge of you. And as we grow in the knowledge of you, fear of you, we pray that you would grant wisdom to us in every facet of our lives. And as we seek and receive your wisdom, we pray that it would increase our knowledge and fear of you. In Jesus’ name, we pray these things. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
