The Sayings of the Wise – Part 11

THIRTY SAYINGS OF THE WISE

SAYING NUMBER TEN

“Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.” (Proverbs 23:12, NIV)

There is an unspoken notion within Christian circles that wisdom and knowledge can either be learned by osmosis or at the very most the fruit is easy to pick and often left for you to find.  What is osmosis? "Osmosis is the spontaneous net movement of solvent molecules through a semi-permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, in the direction that tends to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides."[1]  In everyday language: IT KINDA JUST HAPPENS!

When it comes to godly wisdom, it doesn't just happen.  The wisdom of the wise is to "apply your heart" and "your ears" to instruction and knowledge.    Such a correlation "link[s] hearing with the seat of human intention and purpose."^[2]  The imperative to "apply" is the Hebrew word  שִׁית  that is pronounced "sheeth".  It can mean things like to lay your hand on or set your mind to.  It can mean to appoint or to be set upon.^[3] It just doesn't happen.  It takes purpose and planning.

How purposeful is your study – particularly your study of God's Word?  Dr. Kent Hughes writes, "You can never have a Christian mind without reading the Scriptures regularly because you cannot be profoundly influenced by that which you do not know. If you are filled with God's Word, your life can then be informed and directed by God - your domestic relationships, your child-rearing, your career, your ethical decisions, your interior moral life."[4]

Here is a helpful paragraph:

"The Bible is a book that is not merely for reading. It is a book for studying so that it can be applied. Otherwise, it is like swallowing food without chewing and then spitting it back out again—no nutritional value is gained by it . . . Studying the Bible can be compared to mining for gold. If we make little effort and merely "sift through the pebbles in a stream," we will only find a little gold dust. But the more we make an effort to really dig into it, the more reward we will gain for our effort."[5]

To gain the most from our study we need to have a plan; we need to have resources; and we need to "apply ourselves". 

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmosis

^[2] Koptak, P. E. (2003). Proverbs (p. 533). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[3] Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.

[4] R. Kent Hughes. Disciplines of a Godly Man (Paperback Edition) (p. 77). Kindle Edition.

[5] https://gotquestions.org/why-read-Bible.html