Proverbs 8:1-6 NKJV
Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors: “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O you simple ones, understand prudence,
and you fools, be of an understanding heart. Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things;
These verses in Proverbs 8 reveal that one of the ways we get understanding as well as wisdom is by listening. We usually do more talking to God than listening to Him. It is challenging for the natural mind to be aware of a being that does not appear in the flesh. So we often talk to God and hope He hears us, but never expect that He might want to say something back. Even more challenging is practicing listening to Him even when we are not praying. It may be that we need to hear from Him more than He needs to hear from us. It could improve our level of wisdom and understanding if we realized that as Solomon said, wisdom and understanding are on the hilltop and in the meeting places. They are at the entrances everywhere we go. Sometimes we are in too much of a hurry to hear the voices of wisdom and understanding that speak to us to help us avoid hurting ourselves. Pride is another thing that hinders us from hearing. We have often had our minds made up about what we should do, want to do, plan to do, and we close our ears because we don’t want to be told anything to the contrary. It will be smart to humble ourselves and begin to give wisdom and understanding a chance to speak by surrendering our wills to God’s will and listening for the voice that is ready to speak to us in every situation of our lives.