Articles
“Praying for Wisdom”
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
(James 1:5)
At the beginning of Solomon’s reign as king of Israel he went to one of the greatest high places in Gibeon (because the temple in Jerusalem had not yet been built) and worshiped the Lord there. It was there “the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night” saying, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kgs. 3:5). Driven by humility and a sense of inadequacy for the task set before him, Solomon asked God for wisdom to govern Israel effectively.
God was so pleased with Solomon’s request that He granted him the wisdom he would need to lead Israel but also blessed him with all the “riches and honor” befitting a king as well. Now, all things considered, wisdom is no guarantee of success, as the rest of Solomon’s story plainly teaches (1 Kgs. 11). But following the “wisdom from above” (Jas. 1:13-18) results in the best possible life under the sun and makes it more likely to inherit eternal life (2 Tim. 3:15).
The Lord doesn’t have to appear to us in a dream to offer us wisdom. James 1:5-6 tells us all we have to do is pray in faith for wisdom and God will give it to us “generously” and ungrudgingly.
This is a significant statement. James is telling us that a faithful prayer for wisdom is guaranteed an affirmative answer. That is not true for every supplication we make. A prayer for better health, for instance, may not be met with God's "Yes". There are many things we may pray for to which God may respond with “No” (2 Cor. 12:7-9). But when it comes to wisdom, all we have to do is ask.
The important qualifier for this supplication for wisdom is the “faith” of the supplicant. We must ask “with no doubts” (Jas. 1:6). In other words, we have to understand what we are getting ourselves into when we ask God for wisdom and how He answers such a request. God doesn’t wave His hand over us and, Presto!, we are imbued with divine wisdom. Wisdom is gained in more subtle ways.
We sometimes gain wisdom from experience. Wisdom is the art of living well in God's world. It is discernment regarding the practical issues of life. Sometimes we gain wisdom through failure. Someone said, “Experience is the hardest teacher. It gives the test first and then the lesson.” When we make mistakes in life or fail to endure trials, God expects us to evaluate those failures and learn from them. Why pray for wisdom and waste our failures by continuing in them? This is the hardest way to gain wisdom because it comes with the scrapes and, sometimes, scars of failure.
We can also gain wisdom from others’ experience. We should all surround ourselves with wise counselors but the greatest teacher is Scripture. The reason we have wisdom literature in the Bible is to make us “wise for salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15). We reject God’s generous gift of wisdom by not reading, studying and meditating on the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, James and the words and life of Jesus.
Paul understood that Jesus is the embodiment of divine Wisdom, (1 Cor. 1:30; cf. Isa. 11:2) "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:2-3; cf. Prov. 2:1-15) and through whom we are given the "Spirit of wisdom" ourselves (Eph. 1:7).
Everything we might want to know about God and His plan for us can be answered with reference to Christ. He isn't a clue or a key to the "mystery of God". No, Paul says Christ is the "mystery of God" (Col. 2:2). In him, all our deepest yearnings for wisdom are satisfied. Paul describes understanding as "treasure” to invite us to explore the Scriptures with the eager expectation and hungry curiosity of a treasure hunter. The treasure of God's wisdom in Jesus makes all the wealth of Solomon look shabby by comparison! (Psa. 19:10)
So, let us pray for wisdom by faith but let us also diligently seek it and keep our hearts open to receive it.
