Inclining Our Heart

“My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,

Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding…” 

--Proverbs 2:1-2

As we grow in Christ, one thing that will always be apparent is our need for wisdom from God. We must recognize our own complete deficiency of understanding in every matter of life and, therefore, cling closely to the Word of God.

How do we make ourselves more apt to learn from God’s Word? One answer is given in Proverbs 2:1-2, where Solomon instructed his hearer in this regard. Solomon gives us two pieces of counsel to help us apprehend the precious truth of God’s word and commandments.

First, Solomon told his hearer to ‘make his ear attentive to wisdom.’ According to a biblical worldview, no one is able to grow wise on their own. At the very least, a wise person must be willing to listen to advisers and mentors who can direct them to God’s way. This requires that every wise person listen to wisdom. Solomon instructed us to make our ears attentive to wisdom—that means that we must diligently seek it out and pursue it. We must expend energy to pay attention when we hear wise speech, and upon hearing we must also actively ponder what we have heard. Our ear must attend to wisdom, not give it a cursory audition. We must devote our ears to hearing what is wise.

Second, Solomon wisely told us to ‘incline our hearts to understanding.’ This means that our internal posture must be predisposed to desire understanding and knowledge. In our heart and our mind, we must be strongly desirous of gaining insight. In order to do this, we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, recognizing that we are not wise of ourselves and that we need help. We must desire that help, even when it takes the form of correction and rebuke (for the contrast, see 1:25 and 1:30). Our inner man must be predisposed to heeding wisdom—and this predisposition can only come from God’s humbling Spirit.

In light of this, let us cry out once again for the help of God in order to grow in Christ. This is something that we cannot do on our own (cf. John 15:1-5), but God is gracious to help us once He humbles us (James 4:6-10).

--Dean of Admissions