Proverbs 2

Proverbs 2- Being a logical thinker, versus 1-5 grabbed my attention. It's a simple if-then statement in it's form, while not necessarily marking any simple tasks. "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, AND IF you call out for insight, AND IF you look for it as for silver AND search for it as for hidden treasure, THEN you will understand the fear of the Lord AND find the knowledge of God." In my own words, I see this as..... Outcome: 1) Understand what it means to 'fear the Lord' and 2) Find the knowledge of God Requirements: 1) Accept His words 2) Store up His commands 3) Call out for insight 4) Cry aloud for understanding 5) Look for it (insight?) as for silver 6) Search it (insight?) as for treasure ...Like I said, it's all extremely logical. But I'll elaborate more on this list of requirements and what I think the outcome is. Starting with the requirements; I think it starts by training my heart to know when the Lord is speaking to me (large decisions and small) so that I can be comfortable understanding His voice. It is then about being able to recall them. I know that it have a duty to lead my new family (Susan and I) and that I can not do that unless I have an ear that is trained to hear fro God. Sure, I can take us down some different paths in our lives, and I can probably even get us both feeling comfortable with some choices that we may make, but if I am not making the right choices, God's choices, then I am not meeting my duty in my family. Storing up, or remembering His commands is just as important as hearing them in the first place. If God reveals His direction to me and it later becomes the desired path, I'll be the fool for having known and not filed that most important guidance away until the appointed time. Then, being vocal to seek out insight and wisdom then starts to fill in the gaps that are left by the divine wisdom instilled by God. Sure, God will instruct me in certain ways, but then it is also on me to dig deep and find some of the hidden answers. Again, I'd be a fool not to call out for some help and instruction. Which I guess is what I am doing with this blog: I'm asking you all to help me check my own understanding; of my life, my roles, my thoughts regarding marriage, and my thoughts towards Susan. I'm calling out to you all, Help me to be better!!! Finally, when it is not revealed and when it is not instructed (after my own solicitations, perhaps), my last place to find wisdom is in my own prayer and reflection. As I determined yesterday from Proverbs 1, by the time I need wisdom, It's likely too late to call out for it and expect that it should descend on me instantly (although nothing is beyond the divine). So, my recourse is to study myself; to learn from my own past and from others' so that I can see how to do things differently. Learning from what I know has happened in the past takes intense study, probably more than some glancing thoughts here and there and a few minutes a day in prayer. I'm thinking that I need to start writing down the times where I find myself without wisdom, so that as I accumulate some answers (and new questions) I can connect the dots and build a picture of what is right. This makes some sense considering as the verse states to search/look as for silver. If that should be the case, then to start with, I should be spending at least the same amount of time every month planning how to budget finances, pay bills, tithe, and save for the future as I am reflecting and seeking the wisdom from my past experiences. I'll admit right now, that jsut in my thought-life, that I probably spend more time thinking about "silver" than I do about "wisdom" in my marriage. Clearly I have some places to grow in order to be better. So after all of these requirements, my outcome is that I can then understand "fearing the Lord" and "knowledge of God". From what I know today, fearing the lord is about fearing letting Him down, and knowledge of God is the factual part of His existence that comes to light after all other areas of life can be accepted on Faith. It makes sense to me that He reveals himself in this order for the reason of seeing us walk on faith first and then on knowledge of supernatural things. I know my interpretation of these last two things is probably a bit spotty, but I think that is because I have more time to spend on #1-#6. What do you all think? -Bob