The Call of Wisdom V: Incline Your Heart

The Whole Counsel

This week, Dr. John Snyder and Teddy James continue our series on Proverbs 2, examining our biblical response to wisdom. As a refresher, we've explored what it means to welcome wisdom into our lives, treasure her, and turn our ears to her. Now, we focus on how we can incline our hearts to wisdom.

Inclining our hearts is an active exercise. We'll never achieve this if we approach wisdom lazily. The heart must be moved by the will. Just as a relationship can grow cold without effort, our spiritual lives will wither if we don't actively and regularly warm our hearts by heeding wisdom's voice.

In this episode, John presents 10 definitions of what it means to incline our heart to wisdom:

1. To spread out — Picture a river overflowing its banks in the rainy season.
2. To stretch out or extend — Imagine reaching for something you desperately need.
3. To bend down — Like a worker setting their shoulder under a heavy burden (the heart bends to embrace the task of the Word).
4. To turn aside or swerve — Someone pausing their journey to closely examine something off the path.
5. To plot or scheme — Desiring something and realizing it requires careful planning.
6. To be inclined to a certain view — When a strong opinion manifests in your daily life and conversations.
7. To be won over — Being convinced of something's value and inclining toward it.
8. To engage in a new relationship — Think of a honeymoon and the heart's enthrallment at the start of a marriage.
9. To stay or remain — The heart finding a sweet resting spot (John 15). No longer running to find happiness, but abiding in Christ.
10. To be enticed — In this context, it's the pleasing experience of meeting God in His Word, drawing us back again and again.

We challenge you, as we did in the podcast, to write these definitions on a bookmark and keep them nearby as you read Scripture. Choose one and pray over it. Ask God to win you over to holiness, help you remain in Christ's reality, or entice you with Jesus' beauty. Incorporate this into your Bible reading this week.

Resources mentioned:

Proverbs 4:23

Luke 6:45

Jeremiah 15:16

John Flavel - Keeping the Heart https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/keeping-the-heart-john-flavel-9781845506483?variant=9996757598255

Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts

You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app