Stored Up Wisdom
He [God] stores up sound wisdom for the upright; Proverbs 2:7a
Do you have a spot in your house that you keep things that need to be taken somewhere; clothes to a donation center, returns to a store, tupperware containers to someone who made you food, baked cookies for family and friends, etc? The point is, you can’t actually give those things to the appropriate people or store until you see them. God works the same way. We serve a God that is personal and wants to spend intimate time with us. James 4:5b says, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.” He may be yearning, but He will not force Himself upon us. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” He will always be at your door, but we are the ones that have to actually open the door to meet with Him.
When we do meet with Him, He can give us those things that He has stored up for us. It may be wisdom, direction, provision, warning, etc… However, He will only give us what we need at that time. Picture a dog bowl with a large, clear container on the top that replenishes the dog food as the dog eats the food on the bottom. You could even put a treat on top in the clear container. So the dog has to eat all the regular food for the treat to come to the bottom. Proverbs 2:6-7 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;” God has all this wisdom stored up for us, but we must receive and walk in the wisdom that He has placed in front of us before the stored up wisdom becomes available to us. It is possible for the Holy Spirit to reveal a nugget of the stored up wisdom to us, but the Lord wants us seeking Him daily. Proverbs 18:10 says,“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to It and are safe.” We are to run to the Lord or the Word, who can reveal the wisdom we need to live safely, and reward us at times with a treat as we diligently seek and obey Him (Hebrews 11:6). We must understand that once the wisdom is given to us, we are expected to obey it.
The old saying, “To whom much is given, much will be required” is actually scriptural. It is written in Luke 12:48. Once we receive wisdom, we are then expected to walk in obedience to that wisdom. 1 Corinthians 13:7 describes how love believes the best. Since God is love according to 1 John 4:8, He believes the best about us. So if we have received wisdom or discernment about an area of our life, God expects us to walk in obedience in that area.
Luke 12:47-48 says, “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” If you have a 5-year-old and a 10-year-old child, which one will you expect more of? You expect more from the 10-year-old child because they have more wisdom and understanding about right and wrong. I am not saying age matters in your spiritual walk, what matters is what you know. If you know something is sin, and do it anyways you are considered worse off than the person who fell into the same sin, but did not know it was sin. 2 Peter 2:20-21 says, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” If you know the truth, you should walk in obedience to it. Do not use this as a reason to not get into the Word, because you will be held to a higher standard. You know according to Matthew 6:33 and Joshua 1:8 that you should be in the Word every day. So you are already held to that standard. You just need to discipline yourself to be obedient to the Word (1 Corinthians 9:27).
