But if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
James 1: 5 (NASB)
Scripture: 1 Kings 3: 5-14
Many of us don’t want to appear that we are lacking in wisdom. We want, instead, to gain wisdom. This devotion looks at where wisdom comes from and how we can gain it.
My son had a life lesson when he was little. He was six at the time.
Adam said something to a dear friend that offended her. He kept telling me, “Mommy, I didn’t know that they were bad words.” He truly didn’t know.
At least that time, he admitted it. Usually, at six, he thought he knew everything – like there is no such thing as a dictionary.
Wisdom
Part of wisdom is having experience and knowledge. The other part is having good judgment.
How many times do we lack wisdom and not admit it? We don’t want to look like dumb clucks.
To us, our image of ourselves and that which others have of us is all important. We don’t want someone to get the impression that we are not smart.
Sometimes, we don’t want them to think they know more than we do. We just don’t want to appear lacking in any way.
So, we bluff. We fake it by putting on an air of confidence. We build up this imaginary image of ourselves and offer it as the “real” us. We have a facade that we show to the world so they will approve of us.
Sometimes, we don’t even admit our faults and failures to God. We don’t want to appear lacking because then He may not think He can use us the way in which we want. Or we think that may make Him feel we are just too unworthy for Him to bother with.
We’re good at feeding ourselves lines, aren’t we?
Wisdom Comes from God
The truth is wisdom comes from God. “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov. 2: 6 NIV). He knows if we are wise or not.
God wants us to ask Him for wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (Jas. 1: 5 NIV). All we have to do is ask.
Remember when Solomon asked God for wisdom (1 Kings 3: 5-9)? “So give me the wisdom I need to rule your people with justice and to know the difference between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?” (1 Kings 3: 9 GNT). He wanted to see things as they really were. He wanted to see God’s way – and he wanted to do it for others.
And look, God gives it abundantly – not only wisdom, but also that for which we don’t ask. Because Solomon asked for wisdom to be the best ruler he could be for Him, God threw in all the other stuff (1 Kings 3: 10-14).
The wonderful thing is that God does not criticize us for asking for the wisdom we lack. “The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin” (Prov. 10: 8). A wise person seeks the One Who does know to gain that wisdom.
The flip side is a little scary. “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise” (I Cor. 3: 18 NIV). We have to make sure that the wisdom comes from Him, not from this world. We have to be wise in His ways.
How Do We Apply This?
What an awesome God we serve! If we commit to doing His Will, doing His work, and letting Him call the shots, He will bless us until we are overflowing.
We need to look to Him for knowledge and wisdom. He wants us to depend on Him.
How do we do that?
- Read our Bible — There are many online Bible studies available. Some have been developed by participants in the Christian blogging group to which I belong. If you are looking for a Bible study, drop me an email. I will pass along information to you.
- Pray to Him — We ask God through our prayers to give us the wisdom. Maybe the Bible study can be on prayer if you feel your prayer life needs a boost.
- Find a body of like-minded believers. Let me tell you, I get so much out of the discussions my ladies and I have. I get so much from listening to Pastor’s sermons. Sometimes, it is the point of the lesson/sermon. Sometimes, it is what that lesson/sermon triggers that makes me dig deeper.
- Find strong believer to become our mentors — I don’t think we utilize this near as much as we could. Maybe it goes back to our imaginary image that we put out there. We don’t want to get close enough to someone to show them we aren’t really who we pretend to be. We should find someone we look up to to mentor us because “… wisdom is found in those who take advice” (Prov. 13: 10 NIV).
God doesn’t want to give us this wisdom just for ourselves. He also wants us to use the wisdom He gives us to help others. “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col. 4: 5-6 NIV).
Our job is to expand God’s kingdom. Maybe God has someone picked out for us to mentor. Maybe He is calling us to be teachers.
One thing is for sure — God is calling us. He is calling us to grow closer to Him and to spread His love to others.
All-knowing, all-seeing Father. You do know all things. We know little, even though we think we know much. Give us the wisdom that is needed to live our lives to benefit Your Kingdom. Amen.
What do you think? What other ways can we seek God to gain wisdom? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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