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.
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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