This month, we are probing Proverbs to find nuggets of wisdom for daily living. We are comparing our probe to an archaeological dig, only the treasures we seek are moral values from the Word.
The base for our future digs will be Proverbs 4:20–27. Let’s get digging!

The Receptors of the Wise

Stop. Look. Listen. This time-worn phrase was on warning signs at railroad tracks when I grew up. It became a trite household saying for parents warning their children about crossing the street. In fact, you may have sung the warning to the tune of “Itsy Bitsy Spider” either yourself, or when teaching someone else.

Lyrics writers for Elvis Presley picked up the phrase and wrote a song that sounds like a paraphrase of the wise father in Proverbs. Elvis titillated crowds as he sang about his father’s warning against women “walking down the street.”

Whatever your exposure to the phrase, it bears repeating again as this is exactly what the Proverbs father says to his son:

My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight (Proverbs 4:20,21, NIV).

“Stop,” he says. “Pay attention. Listen. Look at what I am saying.”

Why was the father trying so desperately to get his son’s attention? Why was he so concerned about what the son saw and heard? I believe the wise father knew that almost all knowledge enters the mind and heart through two receptors: the eyes and ears.

The father had heard the voices of the two women out there; he wanted to get the son’s attention to help him discern the difference between the voices. What the son took in through his eyes and ears would profoundly influence his choices.

The Eyes

As we probe through the Proverbs, we learn much about the eyes. Early on, we read the caution against being wise in your own eyes (3:7), which causes us to stop and think about our self-perception. Shortly after this caution, we read in verse 21:

My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight.

Keep your eyes focused, he is saying, on that which is right and good, in addition to your own self-evaluation.

The father later describes the scoundrel who winks with his eye (6:13) and says that he who winks maliciously causes grief (10:10). He is not talking about the playful wink we give to children, but the deceitful wink of someone saying one thing but meaning something totally different. As you probe through Proverbs you see the father cautioning the son not only about his own eyes through which he perceives his world, but the eyes of others who might mislead him.

The Ears

The father gives equal attention to the ears, pleading in our opening verse for the son to listen closely to what I say (4:20). In the next chapter he describes the one who groans at the end of life and says remorsefully I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors (5:13).

By contrast, he says the heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out (18:15). He concludes his references on the eyes and ears by saying:

Ears that hear and eyes that see-the Lord has made them both (20:12).

God has given us two marvelous receptors by which we perceive the world. Our responsibility is to keep our eyes and ears open to the good things of life, while guarding against that which would harm us. Thankfully, He also created us with the ability to discern the difference, but that is the topic of another day.