Proverbs - Bowing Down to Listen

Proverbs 22:17-18

Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

Our ears will hear wisdom much easier if they are bowed down to listen.  Bowing down implies a humility and openness to receive.  When we are quiet with our own arguments and reasons, we can hear wisdom much more clearly and be able to distinguish them above the other counsel coming from within and without.  We are also told her to apply our hearts to the Lord’s knowledge.  Our hearts need to be brought before God’s Word and made to receive and treasure all He has to say.  The things God shows us should be transferred to the place of cherishing within us.   Our hearts are equated with our passions and motives.  This wisdom and knowledge must be treasured and then dispensed through our words and actions.  We must cooperate with wisdom and knowledge.  It won’t do us good to listen and then not apply.  If we listen and don’t apply we will be like the man who built his house on the sand – great was the fall thereof.  We are instructed that it is a pleasant thing to keep this knowledge.  Things we have learned we must continue in.  The things we have learned will end up coming out of our mouths and be the most appropriate things we can say.  It starts with humility, goes to application, continues in keeping it and then causes our lives to be pleasant with words that are full of life.