The Hunt for Wisdom--Proverbs series

I’m sure I don’t have to tell most of you that we’re getting into a great time of year for hunting. Pheasant and quail season is about to open, turkeys will be in season most of the winter, deer are in season right now, as well as ducks. I’ll bet some of you have already been thinking about cleaning your gun or getting some new arrows or fletchings.

You all know that in order to be a successful hunter, there are certain things you have to know. First, you have to know where to look. When you’re hunting for a particular animal, you have to know what kind of habitat that animal lives in. You’re not going to be a very good duck hunter if you set up a duck blind in an area where there’s no water. Likewise, you’re going to be pretty disappointed if you try to hunt for moose in Kansas. And even when you’re in the right habitat, you still have to look for the right features—like sources of food and sources of shelter.

Second, you also have to know how to hunt the animal that you’re trying to track down. You’re not going to have much success deer hunting if you walk out into the woods and say, “Heeeeeyyyy deer! Hey deer! Hey! Hey!” Nor will you have much success if you sit in a field and somewhere and wait for a pheasant to come to you.

So those are some of the basic principles that you have to know in order to be a successful hunter—you have to know where to look for your prey, and how to hunt it. This morning we’re going to talk about acquiring wisdom, and what we’re going to discover is that those same principles apply to the hunt for wisdom. If you want to acquire wisdom in your life, you have to know where to look for it and how to get it. You have to make sure you’re looking in the right places and make sure that you’re carrying out the process in the right manner.

So those are the two questions that we’re going to deal with today—1) Where do we look for wisdom; and 2) How should we seek wisdom?

I. Where do we look for wisdom?

There are all sorts of people around us today who claim that they can offer us wisdom to live by. We can turn on Oprah or Dr. Phil, and they’ll have some advice for us. Or we can read Dear Abby in the newspaper, or even an editorial column in the newspaper. Or we can go to the library or the bookstore and find self-help books for anything that you want to become or overcome, and of course we can go online and find opinions from anyone who knows how to type.

But where does the Bible tells us to look for wisdom? This should really be our starting point, and we should look for wisdom in the places where it tells us to look. Let’s consider five sources of wisdom that are described in the book of Proverbs

A. To the Lord (2:1–6)

First of all, we should look to the Lord for wisdom. This comes as no surprise I’m sure. We will see in a few moments that we can look to certain other people to find wisdom, but ultimately all true wisdom comes from the Lord. Let’s read 2:1–6 [READ 2:1–6].

So the Lord is ultimate source of all true wisdom, and this makes perfect sense when we remember what wisdom is—wisdom is based on the moral laws that God built into the world, and if we want to find out how the world works in terms of morality, it makes sense that we would consult the builder.

But how do we acquire wisdom from the Lord? The same way that we would acquire wisdom from anyone else—by communicating with that person. Communication, of course, is a process where we speak to someone and then listen to what they have to say, and when we think about communicating with God, we get to speak to Him through prayer and hear from Him through Bible study. We can speak to God in prayer and make requests of Him, and one of the things that we can ask for is wisdom. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” We can talk to God about the things that are troubling us or confusing us, and then we can search the Bible to find out what He has said about handling the situation that we’re in, and according to 2 Timothy 3:17, the Bible contains everything that we need to know about living in a manner that pleases God.

B. To our parents (4:1–4)

Now some of you are thinking, “Ah, man! I knew he was going to mention this one.” Well, I mention it because Proverbs mentions it. Let’s read 4:1–4 [READ 4:1–4] As I said last week, much of the book of Proverbs is explicitly written from the perspective of a parent instructing his or her children. There is just no way to read Proverbs and avoid the conclusion that your parents are a major source of wisdom. That’s why God tells us repeatedly in the Bible to respect them and obey them.

Young people—please don’t miss this! I’m talking to you teenagers, and to you middle schoolers, and to you kids in elementary school, and to all of you who still live under the authority of your parents. God tells us to obey our parents because they really do have wisdom—especially if you have Christian parents who are seeking wisdom themselves. God has made our parents a source of wisdom and protection in our lives. Don’t be naïve about this! The reason that you may face so many temptations to fight with your parents is because Satan wants to drive you away from a major source of guidance and protection! Don’t be fooled!

Mark Twain had a humorous way of looking at just about everything in life, and this area is no exception. Mark Twain once wrote, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” I realize that your parents might barely know how to use their cell phone, but they know a lot more about life than you think, so listen to them and obey them.

C. To nature (6:6–11)

Let’s take a look at 6:6–11. In this passage, Solomon is telling a lazy person to get a move on things, and he tells the lazy person to learn a lesson from ants [READ 6:6–11].

There really are some important lessons that we can learn simply from observing the world around us. Not long ago I was talking to Shirley Buller about gardening. She was telling me that there really is no such thing as a green thumb. Anyone can be successful at gardening—it is simply a matter of doing the right things in the right way at the right time whether you feel like it or not. She pointed out that there are some spiritual lessons we can learn from that idea as well, and I would have to agree. A lesson like that can come simply from observing the way that God’s creation functions.

D. To wise counselors (24:5–6)

Proverbs 26:12 says, “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Two of the most important lessons that we need to learn are: 1) I don’t know everything; and 2) I can, in fact, be wrong. Notice what Proverbs 24:5–6 have to say [READ 24:5–6]. We all need to realize how desperately we need the advice of other people around us who are wise—not advice from just anyone, but from people who have acquired wisdom. When you need wisdom, that is not the time to go to the friend who always tells you what you want to hear. If you need wisdom for a decision, you need to talk to a wise person who has faced that decision before. Or if you’re facing a crisis, talk to a wise person who has been down that road already. Talk to people who can also give you insights from Scripture.

We really put ourselves in a dangerous situation if we think that we don’t need advice and correction from other people. Most of the time we can only see an issue from our own point of view, and outside of that its like we have blinders on—we can’t imagine that another point of view even exists! But we need to be careful about making decisions based solely upon our own base of knowledge. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” We can avoid dangers like that by consulting wise counselors.

E. To the experiences of others (7:6–9)

In Proverbs 7:6–9, Solomon describes how he observed a young man get caught up in adultery [READ 7:6–9]. Solomon is obviously warning his son from getting caught in a similar temptation, but he also communicates the principle that we can learn from the experiences of others. This is certainly true for you kids out there who have older siblings. Boy, can you learn a lot from them—particularly from their mistakes. If you see that one of their choices sent your parents through the roof, you can make a mental note to avoid that choice.

But we can all learn simply by observing the people around us—not by snooping in their lives, but simply by observing the choices they make and then taking note of the outcome. We can learn how to succeed at something by watching people who have already had success. And, of course, we can avoid trouble by avoiding the choices that were made by people who have brought some trouble upon themselves.

So we’ve seen now several places to look in order to find wisdom, and if we would take advantage of all of them, we would really be on the right track. But knowing where to look is only part of the equation. How should we seek it? That is the question that we need to deal with next. Let me make two points about this question and then we’ll be done.

II. How should we seek wisdom?

A. With urgency—before its too late! (1:24–33)

While it is certainly true that we can learn from our mistakes, it is highly preferable to avoid mistakes in the first place by acquiring the wisdom we need to avoid making foolish choices, because after we’ve made a foolish choice, it will be too late to find the wisdom that we need get us out of the mess we’ve created. Look at Proverbs 1:24–33. Here Solomon has again described wisdom as a woman who is calling out, and in these verses she says [READ 1:24–33].

Quite a warning from Lady Wisdom! If we reject wisdom and make foolish choices, we may have to deal with some very severe consequences. And yes, we may learn some lessons that will help us down the road, but it will be too late to undo the foolish choices we’ve already made, and depending on our choices we may have to deal with life-long consequences.

So the moral of the story is this—get wisdom now! Start today! Every day that goes by in which we are not seeking more wisdom is a day that we leave ourselves vulnerable to foolish decisions that may alter our lives forever. So we must start now! It is too risky even to put it off one more day—start hunting for wisdom today! It is open season for wisdom!

B. With passion and determination (2:1–5)

Look with me at Proverbs 2:1–5, and notice the passion that is described here in the hunt for wisdom [READ 2:1–5]. Now I guarantee that if you somehow discovered that there was buried treasure in your backyard, you would be out there this afternoon with a shovel! And you would dig up your whole yard until you found it! Well friends, as we hunt for wisdom we are hunting for something that is more valuable than silver and gold, so we should have an even greater passion in our pursuit of it.

Think about the passion that explorers have shown in the past as they’ve looked for hidden treasure. Think about a man who came near Montezuma looking for hidden treasure—Francisco de Coronado. Coronado was a governor in Mexico when he heard about cities of gold up north in the present-day United States. He invested a large sum of his own money and set out with an expeditionary force of 1,600 people. As you probably know, he never found any cities made of gold, and he was forced to return to Mexico injured and bankrupt, yet he had spent 14 years looking for treasure that he never found because he knew how valuable it would be if he did find it.

The Bible tells us to hunt for wisdom as if we were hunting for hidden treasure. That means that we must have passion and determination. We cannot pick up our Bibles once a week on Sundays and expect to gain much wisdom—we must passionately study the Scriptures. We cannot consult wise counselors on only a few decisions and expect to make consistently wise choices—we must consistently seek advice. The stakes are too high to do otherwise; the profit of wisdom is too great to pursue it with a half-hearted effort.

So as we hunt for wisdom, we must look in the right places and do so in the right manner. But the best part about hunting for wisdom is that wisdom wants to be found! Wisdom will not escape from you if you look in the right places in the right manner. If you pray to God for wisdom and then look for it in the way that we’ve just learned from Proverbs, you will find it, and with it you will receive all the benefits that flow from it. So my friends, TODAY IS OPENING DAY! Let the hunt for wisdom begin!