Before we understand wisdom, we must cultivate a character that is receptive to wisdom. After all, if our heart does not long for wisdom, we will not truly seek after it or listen to it.

The foundational characteristic we need is humility.

As we approach God, we need to acknowledge that everything is gift and grace. We must come before the Lord poor in spirit (cf. Matthew 5:3), recognizing that we are utterly dependent on Him. We come to God with our desperate need and true dependence; we cannot make sense of life on our own.

When we recognize our smallness compared with the greatness of God, we approach Him with reverential awe.

However, this reverential awe is a difficult attitude to retain. Our tendency is to lift ourselves up and trust in ourselves rather than in God. We delude ourselves into thinking that we have control of our lives and that we do not need to submit to God. We harden our hearts and rationalize our independence.

Ultimately, we must recalibrate our wills with God’s. We do not know what is best for ourselves, but God has our best interests at heart. Dependence may irk our pride, but before God’s holy majesty we can submit to Him in awe.

Click here to see Ken’s other Sunday morning videos.

The Proverbs transcripts used in this video are available online.