(upbeat music) - We close out the week with a very commonly asked question in the minds of many Christians, and it's a question that you, Pastor John, are asked a lot on the road, and it's one of the most common questions we get from our listener emails as well.

Here it is. If I read my Bible, but I don't feel anything in my affections that resonates with the worth and the value and the preciousness of the words, of what those words communicate to me, is there anything I can do next, or do I just have to wait and let the experience happen to me in the future?

How would you answer such a question? - Well, I am so glad for the question because it is something that I've been thinking about recently so much because I've been meditating on a section of the book of Proverbs, and I think this section of the book of Proverbs is introduced by the inspired writer precisely to answer that question.

So the section is Proverbs 22, 17, down to 24, 22, I think it goes, and it's a section, in fact, I'll just pause here. No, I won't. You can pause. (laughs) So push pause if you wanna go get your Bible 'cause I'm gonna get everything I have to say from about three lines in verses 17 and 18 of Proverbs 22.

So get your Bible. Okay, now you've got your Bible. And the section runs from 22, 17 down to 24, 22, and it's called, if you look at the end, verse 20, it says, "Have I not written for you 30 sayings?" Now, those 30 sayings are found in 22, 17 to 24, 22 in groupings.

Some Bibles break the groupings out for you. So every time a new theme starts, there's a new saying, and there are 30 of them in this unit. And in verse 17 is where they start, and it says, "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise." So these are usually entitled the words of the wise.

Now, what's so important about this is that I think the first two verses or the first three verses, perhaps, in this new section of 30 sayings are written precisely to answer the question that we've just been given, namely, how do you hear and how do you feel appropriately these words?

So let me read verse 17 and 18. "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them." These words of the wise, communicating that knowledge. It will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

So two things, the first line, incline your ear and hear the words of the wise. So clearly, the point there is words are being spoken and you should lean in, incline your ear. So literally, if you can't hear them, what do we do when we can't hear? We kind of lean, we press in closer, but we do that with our attention as well.

If you're reading words or if you're hearing words and the words are just going by, he's saying, don't let them go by. Don't let any of the words go by. Attend meticulously, carefully, attentively to the words themselves because the words, next line, are going to form knowledge in your mind because the next line says, "And apply your heart to my knowledge." So knowledge is what forms in the mind some idea, some communication of something valuable or precious or important or wise that he's going to communicate, coming through the medium of words that hit your ear, go inside, produce knowledge, and then here it comes, "And apply your heart to my knowledge." And the effect will be, it will be pleasant.

And I take it that the heart is the organ of pleasantness, pleasure, and that's what the question is, right? How can I experience pleasure, an appropriate admiring and valuing and treasuring and loving and embracing and enjoyment and satisfaction in what I'm perceiving through the words? And he says, "The way you do it is apply your heart." Now, I'm going to talk for just a minute or two about what that means, but just know this writer, this inspired writer is answering your question, yes.

Is there something you can do to move from ears attending to words and mind grasping knowledge to heart experiencing pleasantness of what is within? Is there anything you can do? And his answer is yes. And the words he uses are, "Apply your heart to what your ear has heard and the knowledge that's forming in your mind." What does that mean?

And I've got here right in front of me on my screen, "Katashit," the verb, "apply." V'liv-ka-tashit. Your heart, apply, or literally put or set or stand or place. So you take your heart and you push it, you put it, you place it into what you've seen with your eyes or heard with your ears.

You push the nose of your heart in the beauty of the knowledge. If the heart is not feeling anything, you say to heart, "Heart, wake up." And you take hold of the heart and you apply, you push it, you place it in the knowledge, you push on it. There is something you can do.

So here's an analogy. Suppose you would like to taste a steak. You can hear it sizzling on the grill outside. So you go outside and then your eyes see the steak sizzling on the grill. And if you get close enough, your nose may smell the steak sizzling on the grill and still no taste in your mouth of that steak.

Is there anything you can do? That is the question. It really is the question. Is there anything you can do with the steak of God, with the steak of Christ, with the steak of salvation, with the steak of the word of God, the word of the infinite creator God, is there anything you can do to taste it?

And you know what the answer is. You take a knife and you cut off a piece and you put it in your mouth and you chew and you chew and then you swallow and you taste. So you say to your heart, "Eat heart, eat heart." So let me give some more examples.

I'm walking to church. It's October, this happened last two weeks. The leaves on the trees in my neighborhood, unbelievably bright with yellow and orange and the sun was shining and it was a more mild October than usual. And it's 60 degrees, the leaves are flickering and it is absolutely stunning.

But I'm walking to church to a prayer meeting and not noticing anything. My eyes are seeing it and I'm not seeing it. What has to happen? I pause, God's grace causes me to pause. This little podcast right here causes you to pause and you look at it, you look at it, you lean in and you say, "Heart, that's orange, that's yellow.

"They were green and now they're orange and yellow and gold "and the sun is making them bright "and they are waving at you with the breeze "and God is trying to get your attention "and say the glory of God is shining here. "Look heart," and you push the nose of the heart up into the tree.

When I came home several days, there were two or three afternoons that were so stunning. I would look out my window and say, "Whoa," and I'd get up, go downstairs and I walk under the tree and look up. Then I walked across the street and looked back. Then I got out my camera and tried to get some different shots.

Then I walked around the side of the house to see what it looked like from that angle. This is the pushing of the heart into the gold of natural revelation and you do the same thing with the word of God. A diamond is offered you. You see the diamond but you don't see the diamond and you say to your heart, "Heart, move around this diamond.

"Look at the diamond from that side "and look at the diamond from that side." And you know, when a born again person is doing Proverbs 17b. Apply your heart to this knowledge. Apply your heart, apply your heart. You can't help but turn it into prayer. When you're preaching to your heart and you're saying to your heart, "Come on, heart, wake up.

"Come on, heart, look at this. "Come on, heart, feel this. "This is beautiful. "Wake up, heart." Instinctively, you are praying and you're not just talking to your heart, though you are talking to your heart because that's what the text says to do. Apply your heart. But you are praying, "God, God help me.

"God, open my eyes." So may I suggest that even if you listen to this right now and you say, "I've tried that and it doesn't work," or, "I don't even know what you're talking about," may I urge you, may I plead with you, you may be such a novice at this, like a little child who knows nothing about sex.

You choose an analogy. You may be such a novice at this that you need practice. Please, don't give up. Don't say that you are beyond the capacity to feel the beauty of the knowledge of God in the Bible and the knowledge of His ways. This text is God's word to you.

Apply your heart. - Amen. - That's Pastor John. And with that, another week comes to an end. And if you missed any of the episodes from the week, you can catch up with the daily Ask Pastor John podcast app or you can go online at our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

And there you can find everything related to this podcast. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Have a great weekend. And we will see you back here on Monday, Lord willing. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)