Proverbs 2
"1 My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,”
Receive - #3947- laqash- To take, to receive, to possess, to adhere to, to be captivated by
Treasure {Hide- KJV}- #6845-tsaphan- To store up, to hide, to conceal, to lie in wait
The operative word in this verse is “if”. This implies that it is not automatically a given. Here in the church age, we know that the Lord has put His word in our hearts {Jeremiah 31:33}. So then if that is true, how does Proverbs 2 affect us? In the same way that God gave us muscles when He formed us in our mother’s womb, the acceptance, development and use of those muscles is up to us. This is the way of the Word of God this side of the cross. It is written in our hearts, but we have to “receive” it. We also need to store it up by going over and over it so that we can use it when we need to. It is the way we cause the Word inside of us to “lie in wait.” In the same way that a person with the ability to fight conceals their might and lies in wait for just the exact moment to unleash it on their enemy. If we do receive the Word and we do treasure it, what is the benefit?
"2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, [And] apply your heart to understanding;”
Incline - #7181- qashab- To attend to, to harken, to prick up the ears like an animal.
Apply- #5186-natah- To extend, to stretch out, to bow down, descend or come down
If we decide to receive the Word and treasure it in our minds, wills and emotions {aka hearts} then there is a spiritual law that manifests in the natural- the ears will be inclined to hear wisdom and the heart will be primed to have understanding applied.
Observe the phrase that begins verse 2 “so that you incline….” This phrase in the Hebrew is all one word -qashab- but in English it is a phrase. The implication in English is that if you are going to receive and treasure the Word, then you must do it with the intention of inclining your ears and applying your heart. There have been many people who have read the Word, who can tell you the “addresses” of any verse, the etymology of words used, and even the storylines and themes threaded throughout the Scriptures, but their lives are not changed for the better. The New Testament states it this way: Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies {1 Corinthians 8:1}. A few important points to note here are; first, the receiving and treasuring do not cause the Word to begin producing fruit, rather, these actions make the person able to hear the Word in such a way that will eventually start producing fruit. They, in effect are pre, pre steps instead of just the first step. We will examine the course of the Scripture in the human heart further in this analysis.
The second lesson is that the Word can be implanted {and it is}, and it can be received and treasured without producing results. This happens because the person receiving, and treasuring has the wrong intentions. This is very common in people who grow up in church. It isn’t until they decide that their intention with the Word is different that they can begin the process. I personally have this testimony. I heard the Word of God all of my life and when I became a young adult I read the Scriptures daily, however, there was no change in my life whatever. It was not until much later in my adult life that I intentionally examined the Scriptures that changes began to manifest. The reason that I began to see manifestations is because I had a different intention. That intention lead me past just reading, and studying, however. Even though I would read the Scriptures, more often than not I did not understand what I was reading in terms of applying it to my life. It seemed I found contradictions, vague answers, and profound statements throughout the Bible, so I was compelled to cry out for understanding….which is exactly the next step in the process delineated in verse 3. To be continued….
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