Devotional Series Sep 21-24
This Devotional Series is based on a message delivered on Sep 20, 2026, and can be viewed at: https://www.kallamgrove.org/messages/real-wisdom/
Wisdom begins with learning to listen, an action harder than we think.
Proverbs 8:6-9
6 Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right, 7 for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. 9 They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.
Wisdom begins with learning to listen. That sounds simple, but listening is harder than we think. We often listen while already preparing our response. We listen for the part we agree with, the part we can criticize, or the part that confirms what we already believe. True wisdom requires something different. It requires us to become teachable.
Notice how Wisdom describes her words. They are “noble,” “right,” “truth,” “righteous,” “straight,” and “right.” In other words, wisdom does not lead us into confusion or deception. God is not trying to trick us. His instruction is good because it leads us toward what is true. That means one of the wisest things we can do today is simply come before God with an open heart and say, “Lord, teach me.” We may not know what decision to make, how a relationship will turn out, or what tomorrow will bring. But we can know that God’s words are trustworthy. We can listen before we act.
Reflection Question: Am I coming to God’s Word ready to be taught, or am I mostly looking for confirmation of what I already want to do?
Prayer: Lord, give me a teachable heart today and help me recognize and follow the truth when you speak. Amen.
Are we confusing good things with the best things.
Proverbs 8:10-11
10 Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, 11 for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
We spend a remarkable amount of our lives deciding what is worth pursuing. We pursue money because we believe it will give us security. We pursue possessions because we believe they will make life more comfortable. We pursue recognition because we want to know that our lives matter. None of those things is necessarily wrong. But Proverbs asks us to consider whether we have confused good things with the best things.
Wisdom says, “Take my instruction instead of silver.” That is a difficult trade to make because silver is something we can see. Wisdom is not. We can put money in the bank. We can drive a new vehicle. We can look at a beautiful house. But wisdom often looks like something much less impressive: knowing when to speak, knowing when to remain silent, knowing what to pursue, knowing what to let go, knowing what really matters.
And wisdom becomes more valuable as life goes on. A person who knows how to make money but does not know how to use it wisely may spend his whole life accumulating something that cannot give him what he actually needs. So today, ask God to help you value what He values. Because what we treasure eventually determines what we pursue.
Reflection Question: What am I spending the most time, energy, and attention pursuing right now, and what does that reveal about what I value most?
Prayer: Father, teach me to treasure wisdom more than the things of this world that so easily capture my attention. Amen.
God takes pleasure in what He has made; He delights in people.
Proverbs 8:30-31
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
Wisdom is not simply describing how God built the universe. Wisdom is rejoicing in it.
“Daily his delight” – “Rejoicing before him always.” – “Delighting in the children of man.”
The God who made the world is not portrayed as a distant engineer who constructed everything and walked away. There is delight at the heart of creation. God takes pleasure in what He has made, and remarkably, Proverbs says that He delights in people.
That changes the way we look at ordinary life. A sunrise, a good meal, children laughing, a conversation with a friend, the satisfaction of work well done, the beauty of a field, a quiet morning with a cup of coffee. None of these things is the ultimate thing. But they can all be reminders that we live in a world made by a God who delights in His creation.
And if God delights in His creation, perhaps we should slow down enough to notice it. We can become so focused on what needs fixing that we fail to notice what is already beautiful. Wisdom teaches us not only how to live rightly but how to receive the world gratefully.
Reflection Question: What ordinary gift from God have I been too busy to notice or enjoy lately?
Prayer: Lord, slow me down enough to see your goodness in the ordinary things around me and to receive them with gratitude. Amen.
Wisdom suggests something very different from occasionally asking God for help.
Proverbs 8:33-35
33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. 34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.
“Watching daily” and “Waiting beside my doors”
Those words suggest something very different from occasionally asking God for help when we are in trouble. Wisdom is cultivated through daily attention. Most of us would love to have wisdom when the big decisions arrive. We want to know what to do when the marriage is struggling, when the financial decision has to be made, when the child is making a dangerous choice, or when the difficult conversation cannot be avoided.
But Proverbs pictures wisdom as something we learn to listen for every day. That is encouraging because it means we don’t have to wait for a crisis to become wise. We can practice today. Today we can listen before speaking. We can tell the truth when a small lie would be easier. We can choose patience when irritation rises. We can ask whether our motives are really as pure as we think they are. We can open God’s Word and actually allow it to correct us.
Those little choices may not feel significant. But they are teaching us how to live. Wisdom is not usually gained in one dramatic moment. More often, it is formed by thousands of ordinary moments in which we stop, listen, and choose God’s way.
Reflection Question: What is one small decision I will face today where I can deliberately stop and listen for God’s wisdom before I act?
Prayer: Lord, teach me to seek your wisdom daily, not just when I am facing a crisis, and form my heart through the small choices I make today. Amen.