“My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings” (v. 20). Once more, Solomon speaks with the closeness of a father who knows how easily a heart can wander. His words aren’t issued as commands barked from a distance but spoken at arm’s length, meant to steady rather than restrain. Wisdom begins with attention—an intentional turning of the self toward what gives life. To “incline” the ear is to lean forward—to acknowledge that God’s Word is not background noise but the voice that deserves priority. The world clamors for notice with volume and urgency; Wisdom waits, patient and unforced, until the listener chooses to draw near. This attentiveness is already an act of trust.
“Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart” (v. 21). Solomon binds together sight and center—what we look at and what we love. God’s Word shapes us precisely because it claims both. Fixed before the eyes, it reorders how we see the world; lodged in the heart, it governs how we respond to it. Scripture isn’t meant to be sampled and set aside but kept, carried, and returned to repeatedly. Where the Word dwells, it exerts quiet authority. It steadies thought, disciplines desire, and preserves the soul when pressure mounts. The keeper becomes the kept. As the psalmist confesses, “The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand” (Psalm 121:5).
“For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh” (v. 22). Wisdom doesn’t merely inform; it animates the soul. The Word of God gives life because it proceeds from the God who is life. It addresses the whole person, reaching deeper than the surface of the body into the fractures of the soul. It restores what sin has broken, comforts what sorrow has bent, and strengthens what fear has exhausted. This isn’t a promise of bodily ease at every moment, but of wholeness rooted in reconciliation with God. Peace with Him settles the conscience (1 Peter 3:21), and a settled conscience often steadies the body as well. Christ Himself bears this Wisdom, and from His mouth come words that heal because His own wounds have healed us (Isaiah 53:5).
Therefore, attend to His Word as you would to breath or bread. Keep it before your eyes when the world distracts and press it into your heart when doubt or weariness presses back. In His Word, Christ speaks with clarity and mercy, not to burden you but to give you life. In hearing Him, you receive what no other voice can offer: life that endures, strength that restores, and an abundance that begins now and does not end.
The Lutheran Column 