Earnest Seeking for Virtues
H. W. Beecher. Proverbs 2:3 Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding; A man has lost a title-deed, or some paper that would decide a suit in his favour rather than against him. And with what alacrity does he search for it! How does he go through the house in quest of it! "My dear, have you seen that roll of paper with a great red seal on it?" "What was it? A newspaper?" "No, no! not a newspaper. I shall lose a suit if I cannot find it. And she searches in every drawer and every trunk, and every closet, and even under the carpets. Both of them search night and day, going over the same place twenty times, saying, "Maybe I did not look thoroughly." And they cannot give it up. The man almost cries, he wants it so much. He will have it, so much depends upon it. And at last he finds it, and he says, "I would rather have had my house burned than not to have found this paper." Now, when men search for victorious virtues in their souls as they would search for an important legal document, do you suppose they will be saying, "Perhaps others may be able to live a good Christian life, but I cannot"? You can. And when you want true religion, when your soul hungers for it, you will find it. (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; WEB: Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;