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 search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
—PROVERBS 2:1–2, 4–5
My daughter Ashley was a pole-vaulter in high school. She learned how to sprint down the track in spiked shoes, plant the very long pole she’s carrying into a small pit, bend the pole down enough to create a force to lift her body off the ground, twist so her head is down and her feet are now pointed toward the sky, arch over a bar at least eight feet off the mat, and throw the pole away from her at the last minute while she crashes down onto the mat, hopefully back-first and not face-first.
Whew.
Did I mention she had to do all that without jostling or hitting the bar she was careening over, lest the bar fall and her jump not count? It’s no joke.
Her first and second years of pole vaulting were hard. She held last place on the team most of the time.
But as she got into her third year, some things finally clicked. She moved up to being consistently ranked second on her team. And then something amazing happened.
At a meet one day, she was taking her turn to vault over nine feet six inches. I could tell she was nervous. Really nervous.
She missed the first attempt and then the second.
As she limped to the starting place for another try, I could feel the tension, the nerves, the pressure. When she finally broke into the sprint down the track, nothing looked any different from any other time she’d run. When she planted her pole, nothing looked any different from any other time she’d planted her pole. But when she cleared ten feet with ease, the expression on her face was so very different from any expression I’d ever seen.
She popped off the mat and erupted in a jubilant scream I’ll never forget. She ran from behind the mat straight into the arms of a mama who may or may not have been making a slight spectacle of herself. Screams of joy. Tears of amazement.
It was mind-blowing. This girl, who for years struggled in this sport, took first in the meet and was now the new school-record holder.
As her mama I’m proud of her accomplishment. But you know what makes me most proud? The fact she just kept showing up at practice and giving it her all.
Wisdom needs to be practiced day after day if we are going to know how to apply it to decisions when they come.
Run after run. Attempt after attempt. Day after day. Sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing, sometimes feeling great, sometimes in pain, most times in last place—but no matter what, she was committed to showing up to practice. And the same can be true for us if we want to know how to make godly decisions.
If we want to know what to do when it matters most, we’ve got to be committed to showing up to practice. Wisdom needs to be practiced day after day if we are going to know how to apply it to decisions when they come.
Likewise, we’ve got to train our wisdom muscles to be strong and capable so when we need them most, we’ll know how to use wisdom.
Proverbs 2:1–11 gives us clear instruction on the way to have wisdom, use wisdom, and be protected by wisdom.
• Accept God’s words. (God’s Word is a gift. But it won’t do us any good if we don’t accept the gift, open the gift, and use the gift.)
• Store up His commands within us. (We must get into God’s Word and let God’s Word get into us. The more verses we memorize, the more our thinking will align with His truth.)
• Turn our ears to wisdom. (Listen to wise teaching, wise advice, and keep the company of wise people.)
• Call out for insight. (Ask others to help us see the consequences we’d be igniting with each choice.)
• Cry aloud for understanding. (Ask the Lord to show us how our choices will affect others.)
• Look for wisdom as passionately as we would hunt for a hidden treasure. (See the value of wisdom as higher than that of any worldly way we are offered. Stay focused on looking for wisdom despite the many distractions the world puts in front of us that would cause us to make decisions without taking the time to apply sought-after wisdom.)
After all these qualifiers, the Scriptures say, “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” (vv. 5–6).
Sweet friend, I’m cheering you on from here. You’ve got this.
Just show up to practice. Practice godly wisdom with all you’ve got in you. And let your mind do what it knows to do from all that practice.
God, thank You for Your wisdom. Help me to show up for practice each and every day with a willing heart and an eager spirit. I love You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.