Experience God's Wisdom

Scripture:

Proverbs 2:1–5, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”

James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Thought:

I have several diplomas on my office wall from different universities: a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, a doctorate degree, and a minister’s ordination certificate. In my drawer are several other certificates of training and education. These are pieces of paper that indicate a deposit of knowledge. However, knowledge in no way is an indication of wisdom. Wisdom is a matter of how you process information and apply it to daily life.

The way to wisdom is laid out in our passages. We are to “Accept and store God’s word in our heart,” “Turn our ear” (or pay close attention), “Apply our heart,” “Call and cry out,” “Look and search for it.” These are followed by great promises of understanding what it means to fear God, and wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10). This is not a passive pursuit, rather a daily discipline that takes effort, time, energy, work, concentration, and focus.

Wayne Grudem in his book, Systematic Theology, writes, “God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals. This definition goes beyond the idea of God knowing all things and specifies that God’s decisions about what He will do are always wise decisions: that is, they always will bring about the best results (from God’s ultimate perspective), and they will bring about those results through the best possible means.”

Feeling guilty because of our past failures often keeps us from asking God again for wisdom, but the great promise of James 1:5 is that if we do seek for wisdom, God is more than willing to give us wisdom without continually finding fault.

Think about the last major decision you made. How did you reach that decision? How did you involve God in making the decision? Is there anything you could have done differently?

Reflection:

In what ways do you need God’s wisdom in your life now?

Decisions:

Based on what you have read and what God is saying to you, what decision do you need to make?

Prayer:

For deeper understanding of Godly wisdom, study:

1 Kings 3:6-9; Proverbs 3: 7,8; 4:5-9;