Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Proverbs chapter 1, verse 5.

Let the wise hear and increase in learning.

And the one who understands obtain guidance.

This verse, amidst this opening chapter in Proverbs is so important for us to hear and

understand. So there are other verses, including verse 7 here in Proverbs chapter 1 that really,

in a sense, sum up the message of Proverbs. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

fools despise, wisdom, and instruction. But the reason I'm drawn today, particularly to verse

five, is because of the humility and teachability that the Bible equates with wisdom.

Let the wise hear.

I just think about that phrase, even those two words, wise here.

If we want to be wise, we must hear.

Let the wise hear an increase in learning. That implies that there's a need for increase in

learning. And when you think about it, that's, in a sense, the heart of foolishness. The foolish

thinks he or she has it figured out. Thinks he or she knows it all, knows what is best, and is not willing to hear.

It's not willing to learn, does not see the need to learn. The one who understands obtained guidance.

The whole picture here in Proverbs chapter one is that we lack understanding, that we need to increase in learning, that we need to hear from

God's word, and wisdom is found in these things, in hearing, in learning, and increasing

in learning, in growing, in understanding, in obtaining guidance.

And these are things that are not natural to us.

We are naturally inclined toward foolishness, and foolishness plays out in not listening

to God's word, and not increasing in learning,

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