A Call to Obtain Wisdom, part 1 - Listen, Hear, Apply, and Be Wise - Proverbs 22:17

Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your mind to my knowledge;  Proverbs 22:17

All throughout the book of Proverbs we have little sections devoted to calling people to wisdsom.  Here is another one.  From this verse all the way through verse 21 we are called to give ourselves to the "words of the wise" as we walk through life. 

The call here is to hear what the wise are saying.  Something that we should realize is that as we walk through life God is going to bless us with those who are wise.  Unfortunately the cutlure of the west has turned from learning from the elderly - and thus has cut off from ourselves a wealth of wisdom and understanding in the process.  There is much to learn from someone who has walked through life many years.  If nothing else -we can learn from the fact that they've faced things we have not - and that they are failed at things and learned form their mistakes. 

The call is to incline our ear and hear these words.  This is in some ways a call to humility.  We have to submit ourselves to their words if we are going to learn anything.  If we think that we are the fountanhead of wisdom itself - we will be too arrogant and too apt to "lean on our own understanding" to listen to what someone else has to say.  There is much to simply learning to shut one's own mouth and hear what others have to say.  That is why God admonishes us through the book of James to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.  The wise old saying goes that God gave us two ears but only one mouth.  By this He is saying that we need to listen twice as much as talk.  That one thought alone, if adhered to, would grant us a great deal of wisdom. 

The thing though that the wise old sage offers to the youth is that not only should he listen, but he shoud also apply himself to understanding what he has heard.  This is where a great deal of wisdom is gleaned.  We not only listen, but then later we take the time to mull over what has been said with a view to truly understanding it and applying it to the various situations that we face in life.  It is not enough just to listen - we must apply what we've heard as well.  This application process happens as we also truly seek to grasp the very root truth of what we've heard.  This means going to the level of the worldview that wisdom teaches us.  That worldview is one of knowing and valuing to the utmost what God has to say to us.  Wisdom is best defined as seeing things like God sees them.  This means that we take what we've learned from God not just as information, but as a framework to understanding everything in the world around us.  This is the way to wisdom - to see and to grasp things from God's perspective - and then to live as He would direct us.