I appreciate how the magi and the priests and scribes in Matthew 2 give us examples of common pitfalls in our spiritual life.
The magi had a strong spirit and were seeking the Lord, but they had no knowledge of the Word. Plus, their inquiries into where Jesus would be born alerted Herod and caused a great tragedy in Judea. The magi had the leading of the Spirit but wandered aimlessly without the knowledge of the Word. Likewise, we can be similarly aimless without a strong grounding in the Word.
The priests and the scribes were experts in the Word, but the Word had become dead to them. Even when they knew where Jesus would be born, they did not seek him out. This illustrates the importance of being in the spirit as we read the Word; otherwise, we read nothing more than dead letters and fail to notice the significance of what God has done for us.
-Franklin K.