February 2

Feb 2 - Today from Proverbs 2 we look at verses 9 & 10
"Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul."

Once again, you will need the greater context of the passage to get the impact of this thought. The first five verses instruct one as to how to gain wisdom. These two verses explain the results. When you think about it, understanding what is right and just and fair is considerably different than just knowing what is right and just and fair. You can know something without understanding it.
A child can know he is not allowed to look at mommy's Victoria's Secret catalogue - without understanding why. When he asks why, he hears, "Because I said so!" Even though he still doesn't understand why, he knows that if he gets caught with it, he's in trouble.
I know that when I push the 'power' button on my remote that my TV goes on, and that when I push the 'up' or 'down' button the channel will change. But if the thing ever goes haywire, I'm in trouble because I don't understand why. (I also know I'm going to have to pay the guy who does understand.)
We can know God's laws (what is just and right and fair), but never understand them. As such, we would only know that which has been 'drilled into our head' without ever understanding why God has set them in place. We end up with a 'Good Christians don't do that' mentality and never understand just why a good Christian would never do that. Then one day we may yield to the temptation of doing 'that' and discover that no lightning strikes. No leprosy forms. No crack opens in the earth to swallow us up. "It must not have been that bad after all. People just said that to keep me from having fun." Without understanding the law, disobedience has set into motion things that will bear severe consequences, just at a later time and probably in a different place and certainly affecting others as well as one's self. That's how sin works.
The child does not understand that graphic sexual erotica such as found in mommy's catalogue produces an unhealthy lust which can distort and corrupt his moral judgment. He does not understand that disobedience will hasten him to prematurely cross the boundary of innocence, from which there is no return. He is ignorant to the understanding that pornography in any form will diminish his ability to properly relate to girls and women as he grows up. Unfortunately, many parents, teachers and mentors do not understand it either. And they allow and even subject children to material that robs them of a controlled moral maturing process.
Once one understands that God's laws are revealed to us for our protection and provision, and how by acting or not acting on them sets things in motion which eventually bears either fruit or consequences, then knowledge becomes pleasant to the soul. When you only know that something is 'wrong' to do without understanding why it's wrong, it is a big temptation and it keeps the soul in turmoil. Knowledge is correct information. Wisdom is knowing how and why knowledge is applied.
As parents, teachers and mentors, we need to take time to give our children and students understanding of God's laws. We need to give them more than, "Because I said so." For those things we still don't understand ourselves, there is excellent instruction in verses 1-4 of this chapter. Let's commit to follow it.