The course, the goal, and the prize of wisdom
These are comprehensive verses; they include the three main features of the heavenly race.
I. THE COURSE OF THE WISDOM SEEKER. He who searches for wisdom is a wise runner in a heavenly race; he is pursuing an end which the Divine Author of his being distinctly and emphatically commends.
1. His search for life-giving truth must be characterized by readiness to receive. He must be wholly different in spirit from those who are disinclined to learn; still more must he be far removed from those who scornfully reject; he must be a son who "will receive the words" of wisdom—the words of the "only wise God," of him who is "the Wisdom of God" (Proverbs 2:1).
2. But there must be not only readiness; there should be eagerness to receive. He must "incline his ear" (Proverbs 2:2). Not only be prepared to listen when Wisdom speaks, but make a distinct and positive effort to learn the truth which affects him and which will bless him.
3. Beyond this, there must be carefulness to retain. The student must not let his mind be a sieve through which knowledge passes and from which it is readily lost; he must make it a reservoir which will retain; he is to "hide God's commandments" within him (Proverbs 2:1). to take them down into the deep places of the soul whence they will not escape.
4. Farther, there must be perseverance in the search. He must "apply his heart to understanding" (Proverbs 2:2). Not by "fits and starts" is the goal to be reached, but by steady, patient, continuous search.
5. And there must also be enthusiasm in the endeavour (Proverbs 2:3, Proverbs 2:4). With the impassioned earnestness with which a man who is lest in the pathless wood, or is sinking under the whelming wave, "cries" and "lifts up his voice," should the seeker after heavenly wisdom strive after the goal which is before him. With the untiring energy and inexhaustible ardour with which men toil for silver or dig for the buried treasure of which they believe themselves to have found the secret, should the soul strive and search alter the high end to which God is calling it.
II. THE GOAL HE WALL SURELY REACH. He who thus seeks for heavenly truth will attain that to which he is aspiring; "for the Lord giveth wisdom," etc. (Proverbs 2:6). There is no man who desires to be led into the path of that Divine wisdom which constitutes the life and joy of the soul, and who pursues that lofty and holy end in the spirit here commended, who will fail to reach the goal toward which he runs. That earnest and patient runner shall be helped of God; Divine resources shall be supplied to him; he shall run without weariness, he shall walk without fainting, till the winning post is clasped (see Matthew 5:6; Matthew 7:7, Matthew 7:8).
1. He shall apprehend the essential elements of religion. "Thou shall understand the fear of the Lord" (Proverbs 2:5). He will be led into a spiritual apprehension of that which constitutes the foundation and the essence of all true piety. He will be able to distinguish between the substance and the shadow, the reality and the pretence of religion.
2. He shall also—and this is a still greater thing—attain to a vital and redeeming knowledge of God himself. "Thou shall find the knowledge of God" (Proverbs 2:5). To know him is eternal life (John 17:3), But this knowledge must be—what in the case of the earnest disciple of heavenly wisdom it will become—a vital knowledge; it must be of the whole spiritual nature, and not only of the intellectual faculty. It must be a knowledge which
III. THE PRIZE HE WILL WIN. It may be truly said that the runner in the race finds a deeper satisfaction in clasping the goal while his competitors are all behind him than in wearing the chaplet of honour on his brows. And it may be truly said that the most blessed guerdon which the heavenly runner wins is in that knowledge of God which is his "goal" rather than in the after honours which are his "prize." Yet we may well covet with intense eagerness the prize which Wisdom holds in her hand for those who are victorious. It includes much.
1. Stores of deep spiritual verities. "He layeth up sound wisdom," etc. (Proverbs 2:7)—greater and deeper insight into the most profound and precious truth.
2. Discernment of all practical wisdom. "Thou shall understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path" (Proverbs 2:9).
3. Divine guardianship along all the path of life. "He is a Buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment," etc. (Proverbs 2:7, Proverbs 2:8).—C.