Proverbs 14:8&15 both lay out the importance of the
process of giving thought to our life being part of wisdom. These verses speak
to me of slowing down, taking pause and doing some self-examination. It is so
easy to hurtle through life at great speed and it follows, then, that we can
miss important truths the faster we are going.
In this technological, smart phone, #hashtag age, we don’t
slow down. We don’t listen or take stock of where we have come from or where we
are going. Yet, Proverbs is compelling us to do just that – to pay attention
and open our ears; to listen out for wisdom. Proverbs personifies wisdom and
gives it a voice. It extols wisdom’s virtues and links it directly to the fear
of the Lord. In fact, that is where wisdom originates (Proverbs 1:7).
A pastor at my church recently preached form Proverbs 2 and
stated that we should be listening to the voice of the Lord as if our life
depended on it. That is urgency! That is a rallying call to give thought to our
ways. What is important? Where are we headed? How are we spending our time? Are
we fearing the Lord, or are we fearing others, or fearful of what we do not
know? How are we relating to Jesus, the ultimate personification of wisdom?
Socrates is attributed to have said that “the unexamined
life is not worth living”. Let’s slow down and listen intently for the voice of
the Lord. Otherwise, other voices clamor for our attention and we miss what is
most important – a lively love for God and an active love for others (Luke
10:27 / Deuteronomy 6:5).