Day 57, Year 1

God Treasures Up True Wisdom for the Upright

“He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.” (Proverbs 2:7 NASB)

Since God bestows believers with wisdom and enables us to overcome difficulties, we could be freed from the bondage of sickness, discouragement, spiritual blindness, or even the power of death. We could experience rejuvenation and restoration and lead a life of vigor and prosperity. Today’s verse clearly states that God is willing to grant sound wisdom to the upright. But what about others?

In my opinion, God is willing to give His wisdom to everyone. However, those who are not upright, including those who like to twist God’s truth, tend to cast aside His wisdom. Thus they cannot enjoy His wisdom and wonderful life. I know some Christians who started off their faith journey well, learned a lot and even had many spiritual experiences. But since they did not deal with their crooked thoughts, distortions, foolishness, arrogance, unrighteousness, etc. in their lives. These problems gradually resurfaced after a short while of conversion, eventually extinguishing their initial good faith. Hence, we have to make changes in the foundation of our lives, such as always adopting an obedient and upright heart to follow Jesus, so as to benefit from God’s wisdom and fully experience the vibrant life that God gives.

Each person has to decide whether or not to walk the path of uprightness. Those who grow up in upright families might eventually stray off the right path. Conversely, those who grow up in unrighteous families could also abhor all that is unrighteous and choose to walk the path of uprightness. All in all, our determination, decisions, and perseverance play a major role in determining whether we are upright. In reality, the wisdom that God grants to people could be different, some are given more in one area while less in another. The reason for this is Jesus wants us who believe in Him to be able to share wisdom within the faith communities and bless each other.

God protects those who walk uprightly. In some societies, if you sincerely believe in Jesus, you will likely be attacked, or even be persecuted. One substantial way to be protected is to be careful in your speeches and actions so that you would not give opportunities to the enemy. This is one of the meanings of walking in integrity. Then God would become our shield. Of course, if you do not believe in Jesus, it is not to say that you would not be attacked or persecuted by others.

Reflection questions:

1) Are you determined to be an upright person? If so, do you think it is difficult, and how would you get through it by God?

2) Do you always yearn for God to be your shield? If so, do you think you are upright in His eyes?