Proverbs - The Ifs of the Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 2:1-5

 My son, if thou wilt receive my words,

 and hide my commandments with thee;

 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,

and apply thine heart to understanding;

 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,

and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

                    There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in this section.  As a matter of fact, I count 8 different exhortations to us that will result in us having the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God. We need to receive, hide, incline, apply, cry, lift up our voice, seek and search and then we end up understanding the fear of the Lord and knowing God.

                    Our ears need to be open and our efforts towards the Lord. There is a passion and focus that the Lord wants us to have in our pursuit of Him and His ways.  This is not earning salvation but this is fervency in our pursuit of all He has for those He has saved.  God is referring to our ears, heart, emotions, voice, eyes and posture.  We must love Him with all of our heart, soul mind and strength.  He deserves nothing less and we benefit from this kind of fervent pursuit of the Lord who has pursued us.