DO NOT (PART 10) – THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

Proverbs 23:12         

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

NOTE: Will be at sea for the next two weeks and may be off the grid. If I can post, I will. If not, I will begin posting again as soon as I get to where I have connectivity.

Knowledge is power.

The saying has been around as long as I have understood the concept of education and its importance.

The premise of the saying is simple. One who in the know has a strength of intellect that foreshadows those who don’t and this strength of intellect can take a person to the heights of success and stature. Want to have a chance to do well in life? The world tells you that a college education is the ticket, that you will not be able to get a job that pays well enough to give you a wealthy lifestyle with just a high school education. Thus, knowledge doesn’t just give you intellectual power but financial power as well.

The problem with all this is the pay that power is perceived in connection with knowledge. Note that the typical way is by referencing worldly benefits. Intellect power points toward a person relying on their own understanding and discernment. Using knowledge to gain stature and accompanying financial prowess leads a person down the road of material worship.

Knowledge can lead to power but we must ensure that we are gaining the right power by seeking to attain the right knowledge, knowledge and power that this world will never be able to give us.

It’s this kind of knowledge that Solomon, the king most renowned for having the Lord’s wisdom, wrote about as we look at the twelfth of the thirty sayings of the wise found between Proverbs Chapter 22, verse 17, and Chapter 24.

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. Proverbs 23:12

What we see here is an exhortation by Solomon to apply our hearts to instruction and ears to words of knowledge but he isn’t just talking about just any instruction or knowledge here. No, Solomon is clearly encouraging us to seek the instruction and knowledge we gain from God’s word through the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t need to say it because earlier in Proverbs, he said the following:

For the Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, He is a shield for those whose walk is blameless for He guards the course of the just and protects the ways of His faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Proverbs 2:6-10

Note the true source of knowledge. It is from the Lord. The only right knowledge comes from the only right power in life and that is the power of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth and all things within including knowledge and wisdom. Thus the “do not” caution we find from this wisdom saying today can be found within the words of Proverbs 3:6 and 7:

Lean not on your own understanding. “Do not” be wise in your own eyes.

Wisdom does not come from man only from the Lord. Those who choose to receive His knowledge and wisdom are the ones who truly have power, not power of their own but rather His power living and abiding within them. It’s that power that breaks through our flesh and human nature to lead us from sin to holiness, the power that guides us onto the good path paved with righteousness and justice and fairness.

The payoff from receiving the right knowledge and the divine power it brings is that we will find peace and joy within our souls, the peace and joy in knowing that we have a strength to persevere through anything life might bring because we have the greatest source of knowledge power at our disposal, the right knowledge from the Lord, the only knowledge that brings genuine power.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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