Uncommon Sense | a Study of Proverbs : A 5-Day StudySample

Day 2: Lean In and Listen

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 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 ... then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 

P R O V E R B S  2 : 1-5, 9-10

Our lives are filled with learning. We are inundated with information, advice, instruction, and opinions. Yet information by itself does not produce learning or application. The purpose of Proverbs is more than head knowledge; it is lived knowledge. To live knowledge, we need understanding and wisdom. This wisdom gives the heart what it needs to make choices in life—choices that lead to life, hope, and peace for ourselves and for others. Proverbs 2 speaks to this truth.

What is a teachable heart? 

The teachable heart is one that knows it needs help. It seeks to take information and instruction and turn it into understanding and application. This understanding begins with God Himself, who is ready to give generously. God is ready to give, yet do we slow down to listen and pay attention? Do we make space for listening? Or are our lives so crowded with distractions, noise and notifications, pursuits and pleasures, that we have ignored our heart’s cry to hear, to learn, and to live? We desperately need space and time to hear from God. To have a teachable heart is to have a heart that listens for instruction and waits for wisdom. A teachable heart listens.

Listen

Proverbs shows us how to listen and pay attention. There are three steps in this process of active listening. First, we posture ourselves to receive. This means we read; we intentionally take time to hear from God’s Word, and we treasure it. Receiving requires time, quiet, and freedom from distractions. It means we turn off notifications, we let go of social media, and we create time to listen, as if we were having a conversation with a good friend. Second, we ask. We call out and ask God for His wisdom. Lastly, we go on a hunt. We are hunting for the treasure of God’s words, for wisdom, for understanding. And no one hunts half-heartedly after treasure! We choose to search out God’s Word with effort, diligence, and excitement—like a hidden treasure. And oh, what a treasure we will find! 

To hunt for wisdom’s treasure, our hearts lean in and we listen. And in our listening, we receive discernment, understanding, and wisdom—the things our heart needs to make choices. When know God’s heart, we live His heart. We live justly and with equity, treating all with dignity who are made in the image of God. We see the good path to walk and we long for others to walk this good path with us and with God.

Reflection:

Where do you need time to stop, listen, and learn? What time can you open up in your schedule to sit with God, without music, without noise, and simply be with Him? Each day this week, you are invited to sit in eager anticipation of the words God wants to give you, that your heart might know and see Him and live His good will.