Proverbs 17:16 "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?"
I believe it was President George W. Bush who said, "I have a library full
of books and I've even read one or two of them." I, personally, have
paid gym memberships on more than one occasion, but that didn't help me unless
I actually went to the gym and exercised. Solomon is saying that we can
spend all kinds of money on equipment, instructions, lessons, memberships, or
anything else that we feel will help us, but there is no advantage to all that
if we do not apply them. Why would I spend money, time, and effort on something
if my heart is not set upon improvement. I can read my Bible every single
day, but there is no improvement for me if I do not apply my heart to using
what I read. I remember one of the passages that we used when we were going
through the Psalms that said, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is
fixed..." (Psalm 57:7) One of the definitions that we used for the word,
"fixed," means to set or establish our hearts for a particular
purpose. We will see in a future Proverb that God says, "Give me thine
heart, my son..." (Proverbs 23:26) The positive side of today's passage
tells us that God will honor our endeavors if we will put our heart, our
determination, into getting wisdom. I will conclude today with the
passage from the book of James: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be
given him." (James 1:5) Let us set our affections on things above
and God's wisdom will be given.