I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. Proverbs 8:17

One of the most disheartening things to me about the beliefs of the agnostic - is that although they believe there might be a God - they do not believe that He can be known.  The deist also has a sad belief that although there is a God who is great enough to make this world, all He did was wind it up.  They believe that He is letting it wind down - and principles for living in it can be known - but as for any kind of personal apsect to God, it does not exist.  How thankful I am that these misrepresentations of God are wholly inadequate in describing Him.  He has revealed Himself - can be known - and delights in those who diligently seek for Him.  For those who do - He has wonderful promises, not just of information, but a personal contact with Him - and emotional ties that He will initiate as well.

God is revealing Himself personified as Wisdom in this entire chapter.  After thrilling us with all the things that Wisdom is to us - God makes a wonderful promise.  He says that those who love Him - who love His wisdom - He Himself will love as well.  What a glorious promise is ours when we love the wisdom of God.  We will not only receive that very wisdom - information that will bless us infinitely - but we will receive the love of the One Who holds all that wisdom and makes it known to us.  This is no impersonal god whose goal is the communication of ideals and principles for living.  This is God, Who in giving us such things, delights that what He is giving us is Himself.  His glorious grace is that He gives us Himself.  This is so vital for us to grasp in our search for wisdom.  Wisdom is seeking not just information for wise choices - but seeking the One who not only gives the information, He gives Himself and all His power so that such principles can be lived out fully.  Our desire for wisdom will grant us those very principles - but they come with a Person - God Hismelf who will teach us and change us in the process.  Can there be anything more marvelous and wonderful!?

The second promise is those who diligently seek Wisdom will find Him.  Please do not think that a strange thing to say.  Wisdom is a person - the Lord Jesus Christ who is put within us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  If you think otherwise, you are not fully grasping the message of the gospel - and of the Scriptures.  We read in 1 Corinthians 1:30 that Christ Jesus became to us wisdom from God.  Earlier in verse 24 we read that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.  That may blow some people's minds.  If we are pursuing wisdom - we are pursuing Christ in the end.  He is the ultimate wisdom that God had to share with us.  Jesus Christ is God incarnate - therefore His entire life was wisdom and understanding to us.  What we find in the book of Proverbs in principle and statement - we will find in Him lived out in every day experience. 

God has called us to a glorious pursuit.  That pursuit will always lead us to the person of Christ.  It will lead us to knowing and learning and loving Him.  The pursuit of wisdom in the end is not a pursuit of something - it is a pursuit of Somone - Jesus Christ.  The Love loves those who passionately enter into and continue in that pursuit.  What He promises is that when we run that race we can run knowing that His grace and mercy will enable us to win - and the prize that we will is a glorious and fulfilling relationship with His Son - and the life that comes from knowing and following Him.  Oh, precious one - make that pursuit the one goal of your life.  

The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But He loves one who pursues righteousness. Proverbs 15:9

We need to seriously sit down from time to time and ask ourselves two very pointed questions.  The first is this, "What way am I going?"  That describes the path that we are walking.  There is a way that we are going - a series of choices that is slowly but surely making a way for us.  Another way to put it is where is my "lifestyle" going.  A choice yields a consequence - a series of choices leads to a habit - and a way of choosing will lead to a lifestyle.  Where are our choices leading us?  We read here that the way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.  God looks at the consistent choices of the wicked - and He hates it.  He considers it an abomination to Him.  The word used here for wicked means the guilty or the transgressor.  This is the man who looks at God's law - God's Word - and just walks over it on his way to doing whatever he wants.  He is a transgressor - one who steps over the line - who ignores the rules - at least the rules of God.

We learn from this proverb that God considers this way of living an abomination.  It is a little comforting to see that God says it is the way of the wicked that is an abomination - not the wicked person himself.  But God is not at all shy in saying how much He hates the wicked way - the wicked lifestyle.  The word abomination means that God sees the lifestyle choices of the wicked and finds them disgusting, abhorent, and abominable.  This is something I think we've had a tendency to shy away from in recent years.  We don't call sin what it is - an abomination.  Sin absolutely disgusts God.  He abhors it!  There is wrath that is being stored up for the wicked - and we need to see this because too often we tend to want to mollify how God feels about sin.  But the cross should solve for us once and for all that God hates sin.  If this is how He had to punish His Son for becoming sin - believe the Scriptures when they say that God hates sin!

But before this proverb becomes just about how God considers sin an abomination - we need to see the second half of this proverb.  It holds great promise and hope for the one who pursues what is right.  The Lord loves the one who pursues righteousness.  What a great promise this is for us.  Note does not say that the Lord only loves the one who achieves righteousness.  It says pursue!  Thus, we may not always live as righteous as we want - we may not always be the perfect example of godliness and holiness - but when we pursue it (or pursue Him) - God loves it!

The word "pursues" here means to chase after or to chase down.  This is not just a casual pursuit of righteousness, it is a dedicated and passionate pursuit.  God absolutely loves it when we pursue righteousness.  He delights in one who says that he wants God's ways - not wicked ways.  Since we are talking about a true understanding of righteousness - we also must include that he chases after righteousness the right way.  He does not seek it by works - but realizes that faith-based righteousness that is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to become righteous.  As he embraces this righteousness he also wants to learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as the fruit of the Spirit is produced within him.  He cooperates by dying to self and living only to please God in what he does. 

There are two ways presented before us in this proverb.  There is the way of wickedness that rejects God and rejects His holiness and truth - and there is the passionate pursuit of righteousness.  This is not a pursuit of our own righteousness obtained by the Law - but a pursuit which is by faith from first to last.  This pursuit is eventually set upon the Lord Jesus Christ.  We pursue Him - a relationship with Him and a passion to serve and to love Him with all our hearts.