Proverbs 2:2

Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding.

This appeal from Solomon to his son reminds me of a common plea of my school teachers back in the old days. (You know! While Noah was building the Ark! LOL)

“Class, you better not let today’s lecture go in one ear and out the other because it will be on your final exam!” 

Not just as a student did I hear this particular warning; it was also a favorite of my parents.

“Elaine! Did you not hear what I said? I do declare, you just let things go in one ear and right out the other one. How do you ever expect to get on in life?”

“Exactly,” says Solomon to his son. “How do you expect to thrive in your life if you do not engage your brain and heart to the wisdom and understanding given to you?” (Elaine’s modern paraphrase.)

Thriving as a believer in Christ Jesus and walking in His will and goodness does not just magically happen, just as growing up well as a child doesn’t just happen by chance. Societies and parents who try such a plan soon learn that a child left to themselves doesn’t succeed; they languish. The brain and heart must be engaged together for any kind of success.

Of course, we can’t just go with our emotions (heart) and leave our brains checked at the door, that leads to chaos which we see playing out in full ugly colors in our society today. But if all we have is head knowledge with no engagement of the heart; a bleak apathetic world of intellect is all we have left. 

Enter an “attentive ear” (engaging the brain) to know wisdom combined with the “heart” (emotions) inclining (focusing) on understanding. 

My hubby is an example of this. He was always a good student in school. He was a good student in college as well, but the liberal arts education piece of college nearly drove him mad. He simply had little heart engagement in the “arts” part of his college education which effected his overall experience. He excelled in the sciences and especially biology and kinesiology. When he finally could focus on these studies in his master’s program, he was a straight A student and thrived in his pursuit. Getting his second masters in a more business-type program, he still received all the A’s, but he didn’t thrive in it. It was tedious. In the end, he put those two degrees to work and has thrived for 40+ years in a brilliant career! Basically, he practiced Proverbs 2:2 all along his career path.

Each of us can do the same. Keep a balance between brain and heart. Sometimes, life engulfs us and one or the other is more prominent, but we should always strive to bring the balance back; to stay centered in our hearts by using God’s wisdom in all things. 

The Apostle Paul gave us a wonderful picture of this: Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 1 Corinthians 9:24