²⁰My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. ²¹Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. ²²For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. ²³Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. ²⁴Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. ²⁵Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. ²⁶Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. ²⁷Do not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil.

The ear, heart, mouth, eyes, and feet are the instruments of focus for all that has been said so far in this dissertation on wisdom that we call the Book of Proverbs. By now, the reader should understand that this book is about both describing wisdom and conveying wisdom. The intention is not only to help the reader to know what wisdom is but to become wise in life. Wisdom cannot be detached from life, but it creates a framework, a context, a methodology for living life as God intends. Wisdom is our living, vital instruction manual for interacting in and with our fallen world. And it affects every area, every component of our life. One does not simply pull out a wise statement of Proverbs from time to time to help with a specific situation, despite the benefit of doing that for the moment. No. One develops wisdom as an overlay of life, integral to a person’s character and being.

When we read and learn about wisdom and its long-term benefits for life, why do we so easily succumb to foolish decisions? Solomon is about to embark on an extended metaphor to illustrate the allure of foolishness; for this, he will paint the picture of a young man succumbing to the advances of a promiscuous woman, a temptress, if you will.

But, before he does, Solomon prepares us with specific application of his teaching, using a figure of speech called “metonymy,” where the writer uses a thing or object in place of something else. Solomon, in the person of a father, instructs his son, “[I]ncline your ear to my sayings.” Of course, he is not suggesting a physical turn of the head, but the word “ear” refers to the willingness of a person to listen intently and acceptingly to the message of wisdom.  The son’s “sight” refers to the focus of where he looks for instructions about life. He should look to biblical wisdom and not elsewhere.

Core to gaining wisdom is the intense desire we must have and nurture in the core of our being, as we read here, “in the midst of [our] heart.” The heart represents the place of our desires and passions, which animate our will. When we embrace godly, biblical wisdom at this level, it has a tremendous effect on all of our life and health, both physically and spiritually. Understanding this is the key to living life to the fullest, like a never-ending spring of water. We borrow the words of Jesus when He said:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Overlaying this on our passage in Proverbs, we could summarize it like this: “Foolishness comes only to steal and kill and destroy; wisdom comes that those who live wisely will have life and have it abundantly.” Living wisely is consonant with having the life of Christ.

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” (John 7:38)

In acting wisely, we must completely avoid “deceitful” and “devious” communications that attempt to distort reality for sinful purposes. We must keep our mind and heart focused on the straight path of wisdom, like putting blinders on a horse to keep it from being distracted by other “interesting” things passing by and turning off the right path.

All this sets us up for the story that is coming next in this lesson on applying wisdom to daily life. The ear, heart, mouth, eyes, and feet represent the entry points of temptation in the battle of choosing wisdom over foolishness in our lives. We shall next see this battle poignantly and powerfully illustrated in the sexual struggle of a young man.

Lord, thank You for giving the instruction of wisdom to guide me in the path of my life. Help me, give me the strength to resist the allure of foolishness by being mindful of all the entry points of temptation into my life.