Wednesday – Proverbs Series – Lesson 7 – Instructions for Pursuing Wisdom Part 2 – May 27, 2026
Proverbs – Lesson 7 – Proverbs 2.2-4 – Instructions for Pursuing Wisdom Part 2 (May 27, 2026)
Click the title above to download notes
PROVERBS
God’s Handbook for His Image Bearers
Lesson 7 • “Instructions for Pursuing Wisdom” • Part 2
Review |
We are seven lessons into our study of Proverbs — God’s Handbook for His Image Bearers. We began by establishing why this book exists. God created us to image Him. To reflect His character, His conduct, and His wisdom into the world. Proverbs is His handbook for showing us how to do that.
| In Chapter 1, we heard three voices competing for the attention of a young man:
• The voice of his parents warning and instructing him • The voice of sinners enticing him to join them • The voice of Wisdom crying out in the street |
We learned that Wisdom — which the New Testament connects directly to Jesus — was actively pursuing us. Calling out. Making herself available. Promising life to those who would listen and warning of destruction to those who would not.
Then in chapter 2 Solomon shifted the responsibility. Wisdom pursued you. Now it is your turn to pursue Wisdom.
|
Lessons 3 & 4 Chapter 1 |
Lessons 5 & 6 Chapter 2 — Incentives & Instructions (Part 1) |
Lesson 7 (Today) Chapter 2 — Instructions (Part 2) |
| Last week we looked at the first two instructions from verse 1:
Step 1 — Receive Take hold of the message. Active listening. Not just hearing the words but reaching out and grabbing hold of them the way Eve deliberately took hold of the fruit. Step 2 — Hide Store it up. Treasure it. Take hold of it for the purpose of using it. You guard what is valuable because you intend to use and benefit from it. |
Today we continue looking at Solomon’s instructions for pursuing Wisdom. Solomon’s instructions intensify through verses 3–4.
| Proverbs 2:1–4 (KJV) |
| 1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; |
| VERSE | STEP | ACTION |
| Verse 1 | Steps 1 & 2 (Lesson 6) | Receive — Hide |
| Verse 2 | Steps 3 & 4 (Today) | Incline Your Ear — Apply Your Heart |
| Verse 3 | Steps 5 & 6 (Today) | Cry After Knowledge — Lift Up Your Voice |
| Verse 4 | Steps 7 & 8 (Today) | Seek Like Silver — Search Like Hidden Treasure |
| Proverbs 2:2 |
| Proverbs 2:2 (KJV) — So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; |
Step 3 |
Incline Thine Ear |
We are learning what it looks like to pursue wisdom. What does it look like to incline our ear to wisdom?
The verb means to stretch out, extend, or turn something deliberately in a direction. It always involves intentional movement.
| Picture yourself listening to someone who says “I have left you some money in my safe, the combination is…”
Do you lean in toward them to hear what they are about to say? Do you stretch your neck toward them to position your ear closer? This is the picture Solomon is describing. It is the intentional movement toward the voice of instruction. |
Biblical WarningThe prophet Jeremiah used the same Hebrew word to describe Israel’s failure to incline their ear to the many prophets God sent to warn them. |
| Jeremiah 7:24 (KJV) — But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. |
The nation did not incline their ear toward God’s warning, and they went backward not forward. They followed the wrong voice.
Key WarningPursuing wisdom requires effort and time. Many people listen to the voice of the devil instead of pursuing wisdom. The voice of the devil may not be saying “come join me in violence or evil” but he is saying: “You are too tired to listen right now. You are too tired to read the Bible right now. You will try harder later. It will not matter.” The failure to incline the ear resulted in going backward not forward, and eventually doing the wrong things. The wise person pursues wisdom. The fool does not. |
Step 4 |
Apply Thine Heart |
The next step Solomon gives deals with the heart. The ear was the gate that wisdom entered but the heart is the target destination. It is possible to hear the words but never be affected by them.
What Is the Heart?Modern society thinks of the heart as the emotions. But the Hebrew word “lev” described the entire person. Scholars identify five things that happen in the lev: • Thinking — as a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7) • Deciding — the heart is where choices are made and plans are formed • Feeling conviction — David’s heart struck him after his sin (2 Samuel 24:10) • Moral character — God examines the lev to perceive the direction of a person’s entire life • Understanding God — Solomon asked for a lev shomea — a hearing heart (1 Kings 3:9) |
Consider this: Taking hold of the words, treasuring them up, and inclining our ear toward wisdom are all intentional steps to change how we think, what actions we take, and what type of person we will become. Pursuing wisdom is not about becoming smart — it is about intentionally transforming into the image of God.
| Hebrews 4:12 (KJV) — For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. |
| Romans 12:2 (KJV) — And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. |
| The pastor or Bible teacher is not transformed into the image of God because they develop Biblical sermons — it happens when who they are is developed by those sermons.
You will not acquire wisdom because you join a Bible study or attend a church service. It happens when you intentionally incline your ear to receive the message and your heart is changed, thus changing your direction and decisions. |
| Proverbs 2:3 |
| Proverbs 2:3 (KJV) — Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; |
Step 5 |
Cry After Knowledge |
In Chapter 1 wisdom lifted up her voice in the streets. She shouted over the noise, she overcame every obstacle to being heard. She was pursuing you and me with intensity.
Now Solomon says — do what she did. Imitate wisdom. Match her intensity. She pursued you with intensity, now pursue her with the same intensity.
The word describes someone who is desperate and urgent. It reflects the cry of a person who knows their survival depends on being heard and getting a response.
|
Peter — Matthew 14:28–30 |
Blind Bartimaeus — Mark 10:46–52 |
|
Matthew 14:30 (KJV) — But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. Peter realized his survival depended on the Lord hearing and responding to him. His cry was intense and urgent. |
Mark 10:48 (KJV) — And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
When the people told him to be quiet, Bartimaeus increased the intensity and urgency of his cry. He was determined that Jesus would hear him and heal him. |
| Notice the necessary conditions before a person will cry out:
1. Acknowledge our Desperate Need 2. Address our Divine Helper Wisdom is calling out to us all, but only those who recognize their need will call out to God for wisdom. |
Step 6 |
Lift Up Your Voice |
The second instruction in verse 3 is to lift up your voice for understanding. This implies prayer to God. A desperate prayer. An urgent prayer.
| James 1:5 (KJV) — If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. |
There must be a request; but as one writer put it, the one asking is not merely sincere — they are desperate.
Solomon is giving us a glimpse into his own prayer life. This book may reveal the desire of his heart that led to God appearing to him and telling Solomon to ask for anything he wanted. Perhaps his prayer for wisdom was not as casual as we have been accustomed to thinking. Solomon stresses the urgency and intensity of prayer for wisdom.
| James 5:16 (KJV) — Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. |
| In this verse the two words “effectual” and “fervent” are translated from a single Greek word “energeo” — the root of our English word energy. They describe the act of praying with intensity. A prayer combined with passion and energy.
In James 1:5 we are told to ask God for wisdom. In James 5:16 we are taught to pray with passion and intensity. |
Discussion / Application3. Have you ever asked God for wisdom? Help knowing what to do? 4. Have you ever been broken and helpless to the point you called out desperately to God in prayer? |
| Solomon’s instructions build from a willingness to receive the commands, and they build in intensity to crying out and lifting up our voice over every obstacle to God in prayer. |
| Proverbs 2:4 — But There Is More |
| Proverbs 2:4 (KJV) — If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; |
The intentionality and the intensity of the pursuit continues to build. Now Solomon describes a person digging and refining silver.
Step 7 |
Seek for Wisdom |
Solomon was not saying go to the jewelry store and buy some silver off the shelf. He was describing the extremely challenging work of mining silver from the ground and smelting it until it becomes valuable silver.
The Process of Mining Silver in the Ancient World |
|
| The Mining
• Tunnels (shafts) dug by hand with primitive tools • Shafts no more than 40 inches tall — miners worked on their backs • No natural light. Poor ventilation. • Some shafts went 800 feet into the earth • To generate 1 ton of silver required mining 100,000 tons of ore |
The Smelting
• Ore brought to the surface by hand • Pounded, filtered by water, pounded again, filtered again — repeated 5 times • Only then ready for the furnace • Heated until impurities burned away and pure silver remained |
| Wisdom is open to everyone but it comes at the cost of long, hard work. Acquiring wisdom is worth the effort, just as acquiring silver was for the people of Solomon’s day. | |
Step 8 |
Search for Wisdom as Hidden Treasure |
The word searchest that Solomon used is more intense than the word seekest. The word he used now describes a person looking for something they know is there but are not sure where.
| People in Solomon’s day buried their valuables to protect them from thieves or the enemy. You may know a person likely hid treasure but you do not know exactly where.
To search for it meant to systematically cover every inch of ground where the treasure might be. Imagine searching for treasure on a five acre field. Or a 100 acre estate. The dedication and commitment to the task is nearly unmatched by other endeavors. Why would a person dedicate that much time and energy to searching for a treasure? Because the reward was worth the effort. |
| Conclusion |
| 1 | Receive | 2 | Hide |
| 3 | Incline Your Ear | 4 | Apply Your Heart |
| 5 | Cry Out | 6 | Lift Up Your Voice |
| 7 | Seek Like Silver | 8 | Search Like Hidden Treasure |
Each one builds on the last. Each one intensifies. Moving from a willingness to receive all the way to the relentless pursuit of a miner who will not stop until he finds what he is looking for.
The treasure at the end of this pursuit is God himself. The life He designed us for. The purpose we were created for — to image Him in our character and conduct.
The disciples left everything to follow Jesus. They gave up their livelihoods, their comfort, and their familiar lives because they recognized that Jesus was the Son of God and that following Him was worth everything it cost. And Jesus transformed them into people who carried His image into the world.
| Matthew 13:44 (KJV) — Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. |
The man who found it sold everything he owned to secure it. He knew what it was worth.
| Solomon is calling us to be that person. To pursue wisdom with the intensity of a miner digging in the dark through 100,000 tons of rock for one ton of silver.
The reward is becoming who God created you to be. Walking in the land He promised. Inheriting His kingdom. Living the life that images Him. That is worth the relentless effort Solomon is describing. |