"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man
of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels."
~Proverbs 1:5
"Listen" does not mean, here or anywhere else in Scripture, to harken to a subjective, mystical, murmury, semi-revelatory inner voice of God. God has no intention of turning our attention within ourselves, of urging us to seek after holy hunches and vaporous mumblings inside our own deluded hearts. He categorically condemns such orientation (Prov. 28:26; Jer. 17:9). God knows all too well that dense foolishness is "original factory equipment" in our fallen minds, thanks to Great-Great-Grandad Adam (Prov. 22:15).
No, God is not speaking of our listening to the inscrutable mumblings of some spirit, as if it were His Spirit. Rather, here and everywhere God is urging us to listen to the Word of God (cf. 1:23, 33; 16:20; contrast 28:9). The content makes this unavoidable. Solomon means the wise man to listen to the words he is writing. Internal, lowgrade, spiritual "sweet nothings" would have been far from the inspired king's mind.
~Dan Phillips
God's Wisdom in Proverbs
I loaned out my copy of that book, and hope to get it back soon to read it. Thanks for this!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quote! I want to order this book now. Have a fantastic day with your beautiful family Trisha.
ReplyDeleteDJP certainly knows how to phrase it. I've started this book and like it very much.
ReplyDeleteThis books speaks perfectly to something I have seen going around lately encouraging people to seek to know God apart from the Bible. Because of that, I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed this quote with a link back here so people know where I found it. I haven't read anything by Phillips but this quote really hits the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that passage was a help, Trisha. Thank you for sharing that with your friends and readers.
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