“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.”

Proverbs 2:6

The book of Proverbs overflows with verses about wisdom. The value of wisdom goes far beyond mere knowledge; it shows us how to make the right decisions and how to live our lives fruitfully, joyfully, and in a way that is pleasing to God. Wisdom is one of the most important things we could ever possess: so much so that when King Solomon had the opportunity to ask for anything, he chose only one thing: wisdom. So how do we receive such a priceless gift? We ask.

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” God is not stingy or hesitant to grant us the good, pure desires we ask for in faith. Now, it is clear that we are not to use God as a “blessing machine.” When we come to Him with requests, our first and greatest desire should be that they would lead us toward Him. We cannot manipulate God into getting everything we want, nor should we try. But more often, we tend to lean the other way. Many of us limit our requests to God for fear of reproach – fear that we will anger God or push His limits. This is not the picture that James paints of our gracious Creator. Our God is eager to grant wisdom to all who ask Him.

The key here is faith. Matthew 7:7 says, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Faith means trusting in what we cannot see. Some days we may feel foolish, naive, unsure of God’s will for our lives but, we must trust that God is watering the seed of wisdom within us, even during those times. So we must do our best to accommodate that process and not fight against it. We can’t pray for wisdom and continually make reckless decisions. We can’t hope to become wise while delighting in our foolish behavior.

So how does God answer our prayer for wisdom? And how do we know when we have received it? For most of us, learning wisdom is a process – one that can often be painful. For example, we learn faith by going through seasons of doubt. We learn how to make the right decisions by suffering the consequences of wrong ones. Wisdom is always gained with experience, though not necessarily with age. We know that God has granted us wisdom when we are able to look clearly at a situation, see the will of God, and carry it out. We will never be perfect in this respect, however over time, we will go from a ship tossed about on the waves to one that is anchored to Christ in the middle of the storm, and all we have to do is ask.

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