A lesson from Proverbs 8:33-35
33 Listen to my instruction and be wise.
Don’t ignore it.
34 Joyful are those who listen to me,
watching for me daily at my gates,
waiting for me outside my home!
35 For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the LORD.
In verse 33, the Bible says to listen to instruction and be wise.
Earlier in this chapter, the writer says that wisdom calls out and raises her voice to all people. If wisdom truly does this, then how come more of us aren’t wise? I would think that most of us want to be wise, and if wisdom calls out it seems that it would be easy to become wise.
That is because wisdom often comes packaged in a form we do not like. Instruction and Correction. One of the reasons why we won’t become wise in different areas of our life is our refusal to listen to instruction and correction from others.
How do we become wise? We begin with being obedient to instruction and correction in our lives. Verse 33 makes this plain to us. When we listen and obey, we become wise. So many times, we can get focused on our offense or thinking to ourselves that we don’t need instruction from another person and we miss out on the prize of obedience: wisdom. Watching at the gates in verse 34 means that we should anticipate the instruction of God and others so that we can use it to become wise in our lives. Our job truly is to be aware of moments where we are being instructed and corrected and use that to become wise.
The great thing about this passage is that it comes attached with a promise. If we can get on the side of life where we are able to listen to and receive correction; not only will we become wise, we find life and we obtain favor from God!
What can you do today to listen to instruction better?
Recent Comments