The word "Understanding" comes up a lot in the book of Proverbs

I had never noticed this before, but on my yearly read through of the Bible, I noticed that the word "Understanding" comes up a lot in the book of Proverbs. This indicates that it is something important.

Here are just a few examples:


My child, if you accept my words 

and treasure up my commandments within you,

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

if you indeed cry 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.

For the Lord gives wisdom; 

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Proverbs 2: 1-6


Happy are those who find wisdom,

and those who get understanding,

for her income is better than silver,

and her revenue better than gold.

Proverbs 3: 13-14


Wisdom is at home in the mind of one who has understanding,

but it is not known in the heart of fools.

Proverbs 14: 33


How much better to get wisdom than gold!

To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

Proverbs 16: 16

 

It is clear from these Bible verses that wisdom and understanding are not the same thing, but they are both together extremely desirable. 

In fact, understanding is something which I need to pray about more.  How did I never notice how much it comes up in the Bible? And the examples here are just a few examples, from one book (Proverbs).

We are allowed to pray for increased wisdom and understanding. In fact, praying for something that God already wants for us is good. I have written before how it's important to get to know God first, and then as a result we know better what to ask for. God wants us to ask Him for things that are good for us i.e. good spiritually for our own individual spiritual benefit. 

In most cases he will not just randomly bestow wisdom on us without any interaction from us, but instead will wait until we ask Him for it. Same for understanding. 

It doesn't mean He will automatically give us anything and everything we ask for (candy for instance, or fame, or stuff that isn't really going to be of spiritual benefit to ourselves). But when we pray for something He wants for us anyway (wisdom and understanding), that is a prayer that is in line with God's will, and He is highly likely to answer that prayer. And those things we gain (wisdom and understanding) will benefit us in all other areas of our life too.

 If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Do Atheists Shout So Loudly When They Believe the Stakes are Lower?

When it comes to religious matters, we Christians believe our very souls are at stake.  Atheists do not believe there is anything so serious at stake.  Anyone would therefore expect that Christians would shout their message the loudest, since they believe there is the most at stake.  However, it seems that both 'shout' similarly loudly.  Why is that?    Both camps genuinely believe that their version is the underlying truth (although of course, both cannot be right).  Therefore, both camps have the truth at stake; they think of themselves as campaigners for the truth.  In addition, Christians believe our souls are at stake.  Why then do atheists shout so loud when they believe there is less at stake?   This is a question which is difficult to answer.  However, we should be aware that Christianity can actually benefit from these loud shoutings of the atheists.  Why is that? It is because the atheists give us spec...
Read more

Organized religion and why it is important

The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints All too frequently, organized religion (i.e. a church) can seem pointless and boring.  I certainly found it this way before I started reading the Bible.  Often, the lack of interest in church may be caused by one of two main things: 1. The person has had a bad experience previously in organized religion 2. The person feels uncomfortable about realizing that they are a sinner In the case of the first problem, it is quite possible that differences in Christian denominations has confused the person.  It is confusing!  It is important to go to a church whose teachings are in line with the Bible.  Identifying such a church oneself does require a) attending a church and b) reading the Bible. In the case of the second problem, that isn't actually a problem at all for attending church.  All of us are sinners.  It is as simple as that. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G...
Read more

Do You Expect God to Match Up With YOUR Specifications?

"God isn't real if I don't believe in him" "I can't believe in a God who lets X or Y happen" The above are sentences which are heard frequently.  Curiously, these people seem to think that if God doesn't match up to THEIR specifications, He can't be real.  I think the root of this is the lack of ability we humans have to 'prove' or see the existence of God (or from the opposing viewpoint, to prove a lack of existence). The difficulty with which we can detect spiritual things compared to the ease with which we can detect the physical world makes it very easy for us to think we make the rules and that if God doesn't appear to follow 'our' rules (expectations), He can't be real. Consider a hypothetical creature of spirit visiting Earth for the first time.  This creature has no way of directly measuring anything physical.  Although unable to sense gravity itself, it realizes from reading minds that humans have measured...
Read more