Bible Version: New International Version (NIV)

Application Notes: Life Application Study Bible (NIV)

PROVERBS 2

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

1 My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

2 turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding—

3 indeed, if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

4 and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He holds success in store for the upright,

he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

8 for he guards the course of the just

and protects the way of his faithful ones.

9 Then you will understand what is right and just

and fair—every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

11 Discretion will protect you,

and understanding will guard you.

12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,

from men whose words are perverse,

13 who have left the straight paths

to walk in dark ways,

14 who delight in doing wrong

and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

15 whose paths are crooked

and who are devious in their ways.

16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,

from the wayward woman with her seductive words,

17 who has left the partner of her youth

and ignored the covenant she made before God.

18 Surely her house leads down to death

and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

19 None who go to her return

or attain the paths of life.

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will live in the land,

and the blameless will remain in it;

22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,

and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Application Notes

2:3-6 Wisdom comes in two ways: It is both a God-given gift and the result of diligent searching. Wisdom's starting point is God and his re­vealed Word, the source of knowledge and understanding (2:6). In that sense, wisdom is God's gift to us. But he gives wisdom only to those who earnestly seek it. Because God's wisdom stays hidden from the rebellious and foolish, it requires effort to find it and use it. The pathway to wisdom is strenuous. But it is only on God's path that we discover his true and reliable wisdom. He will guide us to it and reward our sincere and persistent search. 

2:6-7 God gives us wisdom and victory, but not for drifting through life or acting irresponsibly with his gifts and resources. If we are faithful to him and keep his purpose for us clearly in mind, his wisdom will be­come a shield against foolish temptations and allow us to focus on a life of integrity. 

2:9-10 We gain wisdom through a constant process of growing. We grow in wisdom as we do four things: (1) We must trust and honor God. (2)We must realize that the Bible reveals God's wisdom to us. (3) We must make a lifelong series of good choices and avoid decisions that com­promise our integrity. (4) When we make sinful or mistaken choices, we must learn from our errors and recover. People don't develop all aspects of wisdom at once. For example, some people have more insight than discretion; others have more knowledge than common sense. But we can pray to receive all aspects of wisdom and take the steps to develop all of them. The end result will be true joy in a life well lived.

2:16-17 Two of the most difficult sins to resist are pride and sexual immorality. Both are seductive. Pride whispers, You deserve it; sexual desire demands, You need it. In combination, their appeal is deadly. Pride appeals to the empty head; sexual enticement to the empty heart. By looking to God, we can fill our heads with his wisdom and our hearts with his love. Ask God daily to fill you with his wisdom and love so that there will be little room inside you for these temptations to take root and grow. Don't be fooled—remember what God says about who you are and what you were meant to be. 

Taken from Life Application Study Bible - Third Edition - (NIV)