Wisdom is a subject that can be foggy and mystical. And that means we just don’t understand it. I want to demystify wisdom by asking questions.
Where Is Wisdom Found?
Since the beginning of time, we’ve been looking for wisdom in all the wrong places. In the Garden of Eden, when Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Gen. 3:6 NKJV).
Eve was deceived after talking to the snake. She went after wisdom from a source that was not the true source of wisdom. And people have been doing that ever since.
Job asked, “Where can wisdom be found?” (Job 28:12 NKJV). The answer is in Proverbs 2:6 (NKJV): “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
“Wisdom is synonymous with a heart that leans into God.”
What Is Wisdom?
Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV) says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” To fear the Lord is to reverence God. It is to exalt Him as God above all other gods, including the god of self.
The Jesus some people claim to worship is actually themselves. Our culture has demoted God and exalted virtually everything else above Him. That’s why we’re rich in knowledge and poor in wisdom.
I find it interesting that we can split an atom, but we can’t unite a family. We can engineer genetics, but we can’t raise children. We can build massive homes, but we can’t build happy ones. We can cure many diseases, but we can’t stop living lives that produce disease. We can surgically change our image, but we don’t understand our identity.
Wisdom deficiencies can be detected in people who have a lot of knowledge but lack the ability to apply that knowledge to their lives and relationships.
James 1:5 tells us to ask for wisdom if we lack it. We apply this verse to all kinds of stuff, but how about applying it to wisdom? We have to exercise faith for wisdom just like we do for salvation and anything else that is ours in Christ.
What Does Wisdom Have?
In short, wisdom has the following: the ability to govern, happiness, prosperity, fulfilled desires, long life, promotion, honor, pleasantness, peace, health, and favor.
How Do We Retain Wisdom?
Solomon is the perfect example of someone who had wisdom and didn’t retain it. In First Kings 3:9, he asked God for an understanding heart, and that’s what God gave him (v. 12).
Wisdom is synonymous with a heart that leans into God. It requires, by necessity, a relationship with the giver—with the Source. It’s not something we take and walk away with. It’s the fruit of a relationship. And the degree of wisdom we walk in is only as fresh as our relationship with God.
Solomon didn’t have the same steadfast devotion to the Lord that characterized his father, David. Solomon had many wives who worshiped pagan gods. They planted seeds in his heart that, when he was old, drew him away from the God of Israel.
Two women compete for the hearts and souls of humanity: Lady Lust and Lady Wisdom. We are to flee the one and earnestly seek the other. Solomon introduced us to both of them through the way he lived and wrote.
To retain God’s wisdom, we must value and pursue it more than we pursue anything else in this world. All God’s promises, including wisdom, must be sought for and fought for. They are processed and protected through faith and kept vibrant through a relationship with God.
The world needs the church, more now than ever, to walk in God’s wisdom. People need
answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. And wisdom is ours for the having.
Association International and Rhema Alumni Association. He is also an instructor at Rhema Bible Training College.]
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Author
Tony McKinnon
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