Proverbs 4:20-27 (Whole-Bodied Wisdom)
The book of Proverbs presents to us a holistic view of wisdom. It is not something that lives and dies in your head, but trickles down into every bit of you. Join us as we dive into these things together.
Transcript
Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the
Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who
Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you
So many recently told me that a lot of my a lot of my analogies and stories
Come from war Because I'm maybe
I'm a fighter. I don't know Today is no different When I joined the
United States Army and I went to basic training It was a whole body kind of training that I went through It wasn't just the arms and the legs and the abs, you know, you soon as I got there
I think we did hundreds and hundreds of push -ups the very first when I first got off the bus
Our legs were were brought into shape through our Running and ruck marches our abs were brought into shape through a thousand sit -ups
But also our eyes and our minds and our nerves were brought into alignment with the vision of the army
Our eyes were trained at the range. Our minds were trained with the grenade exercise, which was a
Very interesting one. We actually had someone who threw the pen and kept the grenade which
Not a great not a great thing to do But those trainings were there to actually cause our nerves in a safe environment mostly to come under submission to the vision so that when we're actually in a dangerous environment that we would be able to react and we'd be able to respond appropriately
Our ears our mouths our noses were also Involved we had to pay attention to the commands that we were given by our officers
We had to use our mouths and and sing cadences while we were running and and be able to always with the obligatory
Yes drill sergeant. I scared you trained our nose, which all of our senses were involved in this and before the military started letting in Trisexual tree fairies
We actually cared about the way that We actually cared about the way that we were prepared for fighting and I hope that it it comes into better days again
It was a mental physical Emotional kind of strength that they were trying to tease into us so that if we went to war which we did
I joined Right after 9 -eleven. I Literally was in the recruiters office a couple days after 9 -eleven and four weeks later
I was shipped off to basic training So I knew what I was getting into we knew what we were getting into which made the training even more vigorous
But they were training us for a battle They were training us for a war and we had to Every bit of us from the top of our head to our toes
We had to be ready and we had to be prepared because you don't want just physically strong and mentally weak
You want people who are holistically strong to go into those sorts of environments? And I think that this is a really good metaphor for what discipleship actually is
Because we're in a war for the world Christ came and he landed on the beaches of Bethlehem and he began the invasion and for 2 ,000 years the church has been advancing and the point of discipleship and one of the reasons that the church has been in such a
Dire straits over the last hundred years as we've forgotten to train the whole man to train the whole woman
What we've done over the last 50 to 100 years as we've said all we need to do is save them and get them into the kingdom
Because we don't have time because the rapture is getting ready to happen We don't have time to disciple them and time to pour into them and because of that we have had basically a generation of converts who have not been
Discipled who have no depth in their faith and because of that Christianity in the
West has grown weak To prepare for what
God has given us. We need a whole life whole body approach Which is why
I'm so thankful that we're in the book of Proverbs Proverbs is not a book that you'll often hear preached in churches
We're actually probably Known for preaching books that won't be preached. We planted this church and began with Jude But I'm glad we're in Proverbs because Proverbs if I were to call that anything it is a manual of how to train up soldiers for Christ in every aspect of life and How you eat and how you drink and how you think and how you walk and how you talk and all the parts of our life
That we often don't think about Proverbs thinks about and it gives us a whole body approach to discipleship
I'm thankful for that and I'm thankful that today we're going to look into that and we're going to see what it means to think
And to listen and to focus and to speak and to direct our affections in every aspect of our life to Discipleship in our passage, which is
Proverbs 4 20 through 27 So today it's my goal
To see what is a whole body approach? To pursuing wisdom and to discipleship.
What does it mean that every faculty that is in my? Being is submitted to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. And are there parts of me? It's this question. I want us to wrestle with are there parts of me and are there parts of you?
that remain outside of submission So with that we turn with me to Proverbs 4
Verses 20 through 27 as we consider these things Together and don't be intimidated.
You can screenshot all those verses. There's a lot today Proverbs 4 20 through 27
This is how it begins my son Give attention to my words
Incline your ear to my sayings Do not let them depart from your sight
Keep them in the midst of your heart For they are life to those who find them in health to all their body
Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life
Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you
Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you watch the path of your feet and All your ways will be established do not turn to the right nor to the left
Turn your foot from evil. Let us pray Lord very
Rarely do we see so many parts of the human body listed in a single passage and Yet Lord, it's so very clear why you've done it because you want our head our eyes our heart
Our fingertips our toes our eyes and our nose all submitted to you
Lord you didn't die on a cross and Drink the dregs of the wrath of God in order to make mere converts
You didn't die in order to make a band of loyalists and cheerleaders
You died You traded places with us So that you would bring all of us under your transformation so you would bring all of us under submission as New creations that we actually would begin resembling something new
Lord we pray that today as we consider these things that that Lord that they would not be a list of deficiencies
Because Lord, you know, we all are deficient But Lord I do pray that a thread running through this list would be the kindness of Christ and the faithfulness of the
Spirit and Lord, I pray that more than seeing this as a list that we don't measure up to That we would simply say
Lord give me more Lord some help me submit more Help me surrender more help me release more trust more
Because Lord, there's more life that you give as we give up more of ours. It's in Jesus name.
We pray. Amen. I Want to begin the first where the battle begins? We're talking about soldiers.
We're talking about whole body preparation. So where does the battle begin the battle begins in the mind? Verse 20 says my son give attention to my words
You give attentions with your mind because the battle begins there Every battle begins in the mind before actions are taken before decisions are made
It happens in the head first Before a man will walk in wisdom
He first thinks and considers what wisdom is and before a man will entertain sin, whatever that sin is
He first entertains it in his thoughts That's why Solomon begins here that's why he starts with the way that we think and in our mind because everything is downstream of that and and I would tell you this a mind that is unguarded is an open door for the enemy a
Mind that is unguarded is an open door for the enemy. That's why Solomon says my son give attention to my words
And he uses a Hebrew word there Kashav Which means to grab it.
It means to give attention. It means to it's not passive. It's very active It means to lean in with urgency and to pay attention
It's that moment where somebody tells you something Life -changing and you were leaning in with rapt attention.
That's what he says consider the Word of God like that Fixate your focus like that This is not casual listening as you're scrolling on your phone.
Uh -huh. Yeah. Yes, dear Uh -huh We've all done that but that's not this this is a deliberate and disciplined engagement with the
Word of God because our survival depends upon it and We know from Scripture that this is where the enemy first attack first attacks
Think about the Garden of Eve He didn't attack her body He attacked her mind.
He said did God really say The first attack was leveled at the mind and by entertaining the deception the behavior followed suit
She handed it to her husband her husband partook of it and the fall of the world was downstream of a thought
Is God really good? Did God really say? this is why
I say that the mind is the battlefield and this is why I say that an Unprepared mind will lead to an unprepared life
Paul even warns us. He says do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
He's saying be active in your thought life be active in submitting your mind to the Lord because that's where discipleship even begins
There's two things that we can feed our minds with We can feed our minds with the secularism and the entertainment culture and all of the things that the world gives us and it will poison you or We can feed our minds with the wisdom that is found in Holy Scripture and it will bring life to you
One path leads to life one path leads to death But it begins in the mind the mind is the headwaters of your life
So the question I would ask you is what are you feeding your mind? What is your mind consuming?
How do you spend your time? Developing your mind. Are you saturating it with God's wisdom or are you absorbing the world's ideologies?
Are you memorizing scripture? Are you scrolling endlessly through a litany of distractions? Are you fortifying your thoughts with truth?
Are you passively allowing them to be shaped by fear and by lies? and Christ, of course
It's the perfect example of this Christ, of course the very wisdom of God when
Satan attacked him. What did he do? He didn't entertain the thought he said no it has been written
He combated the attack on the mind with attack with a counter -attack of the word When he faced the cross
Isaiah 57 says he set his face like a flint. What a masculine glorious thing that is
That our Savior set his face like flint He determined in his mind to glorify
God for the sake of saving us and he set his face
Toward the cross and there was nothing that could prove that could get him off course
As far as what we need to do about these things There's a few things.
I would encourage you if you want to cultivate a mind That loves wisdom. The first thing
I would say is immerse yourself in Scripture How can you know what the word says if you don't read what the word says, right
Psalm 119 11 says I have stored up your word in my heart. Let that be our anthem brothers and sisters
Number two, I would say to cut off worldly influences there's so much that is downstream of this that I can't even say if You're not cutting off some of those influences that are leading you into different places leading you into Toxic thought patterns leading you whether it's your music or whether it's your friends or whatever it is.
There is There is so much Influence that others have on us
That is not good that leads us into dark places that we don't even realize
First Corinthians 1533 says do not be deceived bad company corrupts good morals
Number three memorize Scripture. I remember a pastor told me once or I think he said it in a sermon
But it was like he was talking to me. I remember it so vividly he said If things get so bad in this country
That the Bible is outlawed The Bible they can never ban is the one that you've memorized in your head.
I Don't think things are gonna get that bad, but who knows? human depravity is
Pretty depraved. I also remember another pastor saying one time that the
Holy Spirit ordinarily doesn't Minister to you with a scripture. You don't know Of course, the
Lord can can miraculously put a scripture in your mind that you've never read before but usually the way the
Lord encourages us and Strengthens us and helps us in the middle of the battle is with scriptures that we do know and With scriptures that we have read and with scriptures that we have memorized.
So do that put the Word of God into your mind and then pray
How often do we pray that the Lord would renew our mind? How often do we actually ask the
Lord? To take away our fears to take away our anxieties and to renew our mind 2nd
Timothy 1 7 for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and of sound mind How often do we pray for these things pray for these things
Fix your mind on the things of God and it will fix your future a
Weak mind leads to a weak life Give attention to the things of God mentally
Solomon says my son give attention to my words So we ought to do it. That's the first place is in the mind.
The second is in the ears the battle also happens in the ears in The very same verse
Solomon says incline your ear to my sayings the pathway to the brain
Usually biblically speaking is the quickest through the ears Hear the words of the
Lord believe the words the word through hearing them and hearing is more than sound waves Hearing is is listening and discerning the truth.
It is Understanding what God is saying and applying what God is saying hearing is not just listening to words come through in audio signals
It's hearing it believing it trusting it Again the word here in Hebrew is not taught.
It also means to focus intently It's the image of a sound cutting through the cacophony of life and you paying
Direct attention to it and There is a great danger actually
The reason why the Bible is so Strong on these things is because we live in a world that's filled with many voices that we ought not to be listening to Not every voice that's screaming at the top of its lungs deserves your attention and You can find those voices on the left and you can find those voices on the right
Our camp is not immune to falsehood You remember the first sin that Adam committed is that he listened to his wife and I don't mean that in a you know
Negative way. I mean that in that particular moment. He heard his wife and he did not
Stop her He did not caution her. He did not say no. No the
Word of the Lord says this I'm not gonna he listened to his wife and He along with her fell
Satan's strategy has not changed. He distorts the truth. He sows doubt He corrupts our hearts and he whispers lies half -truths in order to get us off course
He did this with Jesus in Matthew 4 6 where he twisted Scripture just ever so slightly He did this with Judas Where Judas allowed
Satan into his head which led to our Lord's betrayal in Luke 22 3 If your ears are not attuned to the wisdom of God, then they will inevitably be shaped by the world's deception
It's it's like Gravity if I were to hold something out and let it go it will inevitably fall without intentional effort
You can't hold something up because it will fall to the ground in the same way without intentional discipline without intentional effort without intentional
Discipleship in your own life to attune your head and attune your ears to the things of God you will inevitably drift
You ever been to the beach as a child and your mother my mom one only rule
I had which wasn't really great Like don't go out too deep. Don't almost kill yourself and drowned like I did a couple
I had a couple moments But the one rule she gave me Maybe it's because my attention span wasn't big enough to remember two rules.
I don't know was when you look up and you see me and your dad sitting on the beach,
I want us to be straight in front of you and Inevitably what would happen is as I was playing in the water
That the tide would pull me down The coastline and I would get in trouble if I looked up and she was over there
When just a few moments ago she was right there In the same way without you even noticing it if you were not intentionally
Directing your mind to the things of God You will drift and you will drift and you will drift into a place that you do not want to be
So I would say first and foremost Put the Word of God into your mind Listen to it with urgency he who has ears let him hear in Matthew 13 9
Surround yourself number two with wise counsel surround yourself with people who can see that you're drifting
And then don't be so prideful as to argue with them when they call you out on it Maybe perhaps maybe they see something you don't see
Repent and Then pray that the Lord would forgive us when we drift and that we would reorient and that we would work
You know, it's always harder. It's always easy to drift down the coastline. It's always harder to come back
But we must come back we must repent and we have a great example of this in Jesus Christ It says in John that he didn't even do anything unless he heard it from the father
He was always listening to the will of the Father He heard the father's voice and he obeyed John 530
He resisted Satan's deception by listening to Scripture Matthew 4 4 He taught that his sheep know his voice and follow him
John 10 27 We must imitate Jesus in the way that we listen to his word.
My question I guess would be What voices are shaping you?
Is it the voice of Scripture? Is it the voice of wisdom? Or is it something else and if it is something else cut it out sever it with the machete of the word and Submit your life to that That's number two number three is your eyes
There's a battle that's going on and we need to focus our head focus our ears But also we need to focus our eyes verse 21 and verse 25 talk about this verse 21 says do not let them
Depart from your sight. That's the commands of God Don't let your eyes deviate from the commands of God and also verse 25
Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you
Proverbs 4 25 What you look at Will be what you worship.
There's a principle there what you stare at will be what you consider sacred
And if you stare at something long enough and hard enough it will become your thing that you worship
Solomon says do not let your eyes depart from the commands of God That means that we have to refuse to be distracted.
We live in a very distracting world. I I Talked about we just did the law homily envy. I sometimes envy the simplicity of a hundred years ago
Where they weren't constantly Accosted by every single tweet and message and update and ticker and whatever else
If this behooves us to take this seriously, I don't have anything profound to say about it other than we just have to do it
I don't have anything that that you're gonna be like, oh, that's incredible insight
No, I'm just saying we must actually direct our energy and our effort to being refusing to be
Distracted by all of the cacophony of the noise that's happening in the world and to direct our focus to the things of God direct our mind to the things of God to direct our ears to the things of God and to direct our eyes to the things
Of God the Hebrew word here. Yashar just means Undistracted it's the opposite of my childhood where I was told
I was ADHD This is the opposite where you are focused laser focused on what
God says Again we see a parallel with the way that Satan temps you remember he first came and challenged
Eve with her mind Adam with his ears and Eve saw that the tree was good for food and took it in eight
Sin is a whole body experience So therefore we need a whole body solution David saw a woman bathing and he sent for her
David sin with his eyes Peter saw the wind and he began to sink
Peter sinned with his eyes in every case wandering eyes
Leads to spiritual disaster and if Satan can capture your eyes he can capture your heart again
Our world Has become absolutely excellent at bombarding us with visual temptations and visual stimulation in every sort whether it be an
Instagram post of a living room that looks nicer than yours a Meal that maybe you're not skilled enough to cook or maybe it's some pornographic image the world is
Become excellent at marketing images why because the eyes are so directly connected to the soul a
Drifting eye will lead to compromise in your faith Which means we have to train our eyes to actually focus on the things of God We have to guard against the lust and covetousness
Job says in third and Job 31 1 I've made a covenant with my eyes that I would not look upon a virgin
I love that verse so much Job is saying that my eyes are so untrustworthy that I had to actually enter into a covenant relationship with my eyes and Sign the terms so that I could protect myself from these things
We have to take these things very seriously because our eyes tend to follow
The things our flesh gratified or things our flesh loves Psalm 119 37 turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your ways.
Amen Pray that prayer for us that the Lord would protect us from looking at those things that are truly worthless and That we would only ever behold and look at the thing that is worth all things which is
Christ Hebrews 12 2 says that we must fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.
Remember this is a whole body discipleship It requires so much more than our confession
It requires so much more than filling out a card in the back of a seat that says
I have decided to follow Jesus It requires so much more than going up and getting your baptism bag and everybody cheering and you get on the video on the big
Screen and then nobody talks to your follows up with you What we're talking about is all of life
Submitted to the Lordship of Christ This is exactly what Jesus did.
We have a great example in him. He set his face towards Jerusalem Luke 9 51 for the joy
Set before him he endured the cross Hebrews 12 2 Jesus never took his eyes off the
Father and by dying and trading places with us He expects for us now in him through the
Spirit to never take our eyes off the Father as well I would ask you are your what are your eyes focused on?
I would ask you. What are your eyes looking at? I would ask you where do your eyes gravitate towards I? Would ask you where do your eyes go when no one else is looking?
What do you point them at that will tell you a lot about where you are at? And if it's not
Christ, and if it's not the good things that he's commanded like family Direct your eyes to your family that blesses the
Lord and that's obedient direct your eyes to faithfulness direct your eyes to Being here and worshiping the
Lord all those things are good But if the things you're directing your eyes that are not good repent and repent quickly
Today is the day of the Lord Turn to him in all your ways. That's number three. Number four is the mouth
This is what I've had to struggle with over the years Proverbs says put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you words are powerful
Words are things that can tear down and build up so quickly Words are things that which wars have been launched
We live in a world now where angry ex -posts can cause all sorts of mischief
Solomon says put away a deceitful mouth put away devious speech far from you. We need to be disciplined in our words
We need to be careful in the things that we say we need to be wise in the things that we say we need to Be aware that God actually cares about the ways we speak for instance
James 3 6 as the tongue is a fire a world of unrighteousness
Proverbs 18 21 death and life are in the power of the tongue Ephesians 4 29, but no unwholesome word or speech proceed from out of your mouth
The mouth can become ammunition of the fool a
Foolish tongue will spread lies and division and disunity and God says in Proverbs 6 that he hates it
That it's an abominable thing to him What comes out of your mouth says much about where you are with the
Lord as well Jesus made this clear in Matthew 12 34 the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart
Say it a different way what's in the heart comes out of the mouth the things that we say
Say so much About what we actually believe Proverbs 12 22 says do you speak truth or do you twist reality?
That's a great question Ephesians 4 29 do your words build up or do they tear down?
James talks about gossip complaining cursing and all of these other sins in James chapter 126
The question that we need to ask ourself is what do our words say about us? Do we speak truth with our words or do we speak lies?
Do we use our words to build up or do we use our words to tear down? Do we use our words to gossip and complain and?
To whine and to moan or do we use our words to say God is good And God is good all the time our words merciful or our words judgmental
Our words gracious or our words hateful our words show whether wisdom dwells inside of our heart
It's true of our brains. It's true of our eyes. It's true of our ears and it's true of our mouth these are evidences of whether or not we have grabbed hold of the things of God and Again, I don't say these things because I want to use them as a measuring stick because as I as I looked at these things and as I was preparing this message,
I felt pretty low on the measuring stick and You do too The question is in our sin, where do we turn?
Do you justify yourself in your sin or do you turn to Christ and say I? Did it again
I Did it again? I was The person was cruel or hateful to me and I let him have it.
I did it again that person cut me off in traffic and I gave them the most sour
Mangled look on my face just to show him how displeased that they were that they had made me
I did it again Because maybe you thought it was cool you said something that was a little edgy that went too far did it again
Made fun of someone who Shouldn't have been made fun of we use our words so frequently to wound
Instead of to bring the healing that we believe happened in Jesus We also need to talk about the heart verse 21 and 23
Keep these the commandments in the midst of your heart That's Proverbs 4 21 and watch over your heart with all diligence for from it
We're from it flows springs of life. The heart is where? The center of our soul exists the heart is the control center of your life every decision every word every action flows from either a
Decrepit heart or a heart that's been set free by Christ Solomon says watch over your heart with diligence.
This is the word That would be a soldier with a weapon
Guarding kind of like a prisoner and it's in a very very very literal sense
Solomon is saying Grab the m16 and take your heart captive and guard it because it'll break out on you
Because it'll deceive you. That's what Jeremiah says that the heart is deceitful Above all things who can even know it if you love wisdom
Then you have to crucify your heart You have to make your heart you have to beat your heart into submission you have to take the weapon of the gospel and beat it and beat it and beat it and beat it in prayer
That's why Paul says in Romans 8 13 if by the Spirit of God you put to death the misdeeds of the flesh which originate out of the heart
Then you will live brothers and sisters get out the tourniquet of God's Mercy and beat your heart into submission because it is not to be trusted
It is the most untrustworthy part of you Don't follow your heart what unload what a line
Follow the things of God and make your heart Obey, you can do that by filling your heart with Scripture Your word
I've treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you Psalm 119 11 You can do that by examining your heart test yourself to see if you're in the faith examine yourself 2nd
Corinthians 13 5 You can do that by guarding your heart against emotional sabotage
Again, our heart is more deceitful than all things You can do that by setting your affections on Christ My son give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways
Proverbs 23 26 You can do that by praying to the Lord help my broken heart
Inactivity though, I hope that we're seeing this inactivity is not the option. We must be active
With our mind with our ears with our eyes with our mouth and with our heart The next one we need to talk about the feet
Solomon says watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established Do not turn to the right nor to the left turn your foot from evil
Your feet are downstream of your head your eyes your ears your mouth and your heart your feet go where they go and Solomon is telling his son
To watch where your feet are going because your feet will determine your not only your direction but your destination
They're the last line of defense for you They're probably the first thing you'll notice because the heart is so deceptive and the mind self justifies
So easily and the eyes love what they love and the ears gratify what they like to gratify
It's your feet. Actually, that's one of your most helpful friends because you can actually look down and see where you're going and say
How did I get here? Watch your feet watch the path of your feet every step you take in this life is leading you somewhere
There's no neutrality in it. No one drifts into holiness and no one accidentally ends up in a place of sin
Scripture contrasts these two different paths Proverbs 4 18 through 19 the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn for the way of the wicked is like darkness
Proverbs 14 12 there is a way in which seems right to man, but it's a way that ends in death
The path of sin is darkness and death. So Solomon is telling us to actively purposefully
Intentionally with great energy watch over the things of our life our head our eyes our mouth our heart our feet
Because they lead to death because they lead to darkness because they lead to a lack of life to be lazy and slothful in watching over these areas of your body is to ensure that you end up in misery and to be active
By the power of Christ alone by the Holy Spirit's power at work in you to be actively working
To see discipleship and wisdom come into these areas is to ensure life and blessings
These are good things from God They're hard work You have to fight against the cancer of Your soul that wants you to go this way and that way left and right
The question
I would ask you is where are your feet taking you where are your feet taking you
Are they taking you closer to Jesus closer to the things of God closer to biblical obedience?
Or are your feet taking you to places that you shouldn't be going and if they are repent of that The final thing that Solomon talks about is the body
Now he's summing all of it up for us in verse 22 for they are life The commands to those who find them and their health to all of their body
Solomon is telling us That obeying the things of God brings you life to every faculty of you
It doesn't change your situation. Sometimes we go through hard things this church has gone through hard things but to submit and surrender yourself to the things of God brings life a
Kind of life that can never be snatched away from you a kind of life that can never be taken Proverbs 14 27 says the fear of the
Lord is the fountain of life Deuteronomy 8 3 man shall not live by bread alone
But on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God because there's a nourishment that's better than bread The law of the
Lord is perfect restoring the soul psalm 19 7 the thing we have to remember is
That the world's wisdom leads to brokenness and exhaustion, but God's wisdom renews and strengthens us
Every day his mercies are new every morning brothers and sisters.
We have to be active in Managing and watching and guarding our faculties
Like our head and our eyes and our mouth and our nose and our heart and by the
Spirit We have to do the work of bringing them into submission to the things of God because that is where life is
Do you want to have life? Then make your eyes obey the
King Do you want to have blessings? Then make your mind obey the
King Do you want to have a kind of prosperity that's not built with paper money and inflation and all of that Do you want to have a kind of prosperity that's greater and better than all of that?
Surrender all of yourself to the Living Christ and you will have something that cannot be taken from you
They cannot shake you and that will bless you all your days both now and eternally
Don't take these things for granted I'm preaching to myself Let's pray
Lord, it's very clear in this passage that wisdom is a whole body experience that if we want wisdom that if we want life that if we want blessings that if we want joy that if we want all of these things that are promised in the book of Proverbs Then it's going to take active effort
Where our minds are weak Lord, would you strengthen them in your word? Where our ears have been deaf and dull
Would you open them up to the things of God? Where our eyes have wandered on to things that they should not have wondered.
Will you? Divert them back to your glorious Christ Where our mouths have spoken foolishness.
Will you redeem our speech? Where our hearts have been corrupted. Will you give us new hearts again and where our feet have strayed would you lead us back to the paths of righteousness and All these things for your namesake.