“Be Attentive”
July 31, 2022
Sometimes I am pretty woeful at being attentive. For example, when I watch a magic trick in which a magician is hiding a ball under three different cups, I think I’m following along very well only to discover that I somehow lost track. When I play a game of concentration where I have to find the matching pictures, I think I’m paying attention well, only to discover, once again, my memory and tracking radar have failed. And then, sometimes, the harder I concentrate on my attentiveness, the more I become inattentive. Playing tennis, for example, requires keeping an eye on the ball all the way to the ball hitting the racquet head. Focus! Focus! And then I blink and don’t follow the ball all the way to the point of contact.
In each case, failing to be attentive, results in a failure of sorts—failure to identify the proper cup hiding the ball, failure to match pictures, failure to return serve in tennis. Maybe those types of failures are inconsequential, but on a spiritual level, failure to be attentive to the wisdom of God may have far more serious consequences.
Proverbs 5:1-2 reads,
My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may keep discretion,
and your lips may guard knowledge.
The Lord has a specific wisdom he wishes to apply here and He has an understanding He wants to impart. In the context of Proverbs 5, failure to be attentive to God’s wisdom can lead to serious consequences, most notably sexual sin. Beginning in verse 3, we read about the adulterous woman who is a dangerous combination of sweet and smooth seduction which leads to ruin.
However, God’s wisdom preserves from sexual sin and the destruction of the family. Currently, in our nation, there are 86 divorces per hour, and 50% of those divorces involve children. The family unit is under attack by Satan and his evil strategies.
Living wisely in this foolish world requires being attentive to the wisdom of God, inclining our ears to His understandings, that we may be discrete and guard knowledge. This is far more serious than following the magician’s ball, matching pictures in a game of concentration, and returning serve!