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Love wisdom, and it will protect you.
The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom.
Acquire understanding with all that you have.
Cherish wisdom.
It will raise you up. It will bring you honor when you embrace it.
It will give you a graceful garland for your head. It will hand you a beautiful crown. (Proverbs 4:6-9 GW)
(Context—Proverbs 4:1-9 GW)
What do you cherish? What do you love in a special way? Think about who and what you admire and value most. This is what it means to cherish.
Cherish is not a common word today but you get a sense of its meaning by how it sounds and the way it's expressed. When we cherish something or someone, we hold it or them in high regard with love, adoration, even worship.
The admonition to love and cherish wisdom shows how important godly wisdom is and its intrinsic value. Its importance and value are seen in how godly wisdom benefits the person who acquires and holds on to it and its influence on others.
If we forget, abandon, or turn away from godly wisdom in some way, we'll suffer consequences for it. Whatever we might gain from having it will be lost.
This kind of wisdom isn't just learned out of a book or in a class at school. It's intended—by God's design—to be passed on from generation to generation by parents to their children.
The fifth of the Ten Commandments says that children are to honor their parents (Exo 20:12). It's the only specific commandment with a stated blessing.
This shows the responsibility God gives to parents and the importance of parents in the lives of their children. Godly wisdom is to be implanted in the hearts and minds of children at an early age so that it can grow in them as they mature.
When it is embedded in their lives it becomes a treasure of lasting value—to be cherished throughout a person's life.
Reflection—
Godly wisdom is a lifelong treasure to be cherished. It brings blessings for those who cherish it and the lives they influence with God's wisdom.
Prayer Focus—
Ask God to give you a heart that cherishes wisdom and a mind that understands it, if you don't already. If you love and cherish wisdom, ask the Lord how to share it with others and how to let it flow through your life to others.
©Word-Strong_2018
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