Did You Get Your Wisdom?

Proverbs 2:1-6 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. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Did You Get Your Wisdom

In 1994, my life was changed. For 40 years, I had lived in Christian circles, and I had regularly shared the spiritual food of others. However, I had never regularly fed myself with time alone with God, time that He could use to speak to me and shape my life. Sure, I found myself leading a prayer and reading scripture once in a while, but never regularly, and never with great purpose. In fact, that day in 1994 when I first sat before God with the intention of listening to Him, I found myself totally insufficient before Him, knowing that what I was in for was beyond the human experience, far beyond what I could ever understand.

Don’t be confused; I certainly didn’t feel like I was stupid or that I lacked common sense. On the contrary, not only had I often commented that I thought common sense should be a course in college, but I also thought that I had enough common sense to not only pass a class but also to earn a degree! Up to that point, I had met many educated people who had no common sense. However, the insufficiencies that God revealed didn’t have anything to do with worldly wisdom. Instead, I knew I was entering a realm beyond the “wisdom of the world,” yet I could not even remember that Paul had already made the distinction between the “wisdom of the world” and the wisdom that comes from the Spirit of God. 

Wisdom is a Process

Today I can still remember minute details about the day I first allowed God to impact me through studying his word. It was late at night, and I was sitting in my family room with the Bible before me. Here, I first subjected myself and my understanding to God. It was at this first moment of subjection that I asked Him for wisdom, for the wisdom to understand His Word and His ways. During the course of the next year of Bible study, I found the scripture verses above. They became the light for the life I have before me. They are still the underlying reason for “the art and science of leadership,” for in these verses I found one of the most important components of the wisdom of God, a component that many leaders consider a waste of time. I found out that wisdom is a process, and the process begins with some “ifs.”

"[Today's scripture verses] became the light for the life I have before me."

1. If we accept God and His commands by truly pursuing His will, not our own, we will receive wisdom.
2. If we ask for it boldly through “calling out” or “crying aloud,” we will receive wisdom.
3. If we look outside ourselves, seeking wisdom as if it were silver or other treasure, we will receive wisdom. 
4. If we search for it with intensity, like we would search for hidden treasure, we will receive wisdom.

The Process is Never Complete

Many people believe that wisdom is something you simply receive and hang on to, something that is sufficient in and of itself and needs no further refinement. People who believe this way may cite as evidence the fact that they have witnessed those who can deliver wisdom “on the spot.” Can you find wisdom without a process? Surely you remember Solomon, who, on the spot, used his wisdom to identify the real mother among two feuding women. Yes the “on the spot” delivery of wisdom was real in this case. You can also acknowledge that some are given the gift of wisdom. However, might I exhort to all who read this that the delivery of wisdom is always preceded by process? It was with Solomon prior to his judgment before the women, it always has been with me, and it will always be for you.

Leaders, don’t miss out on the search for wisdom. You can’t live without it.


Photos courtesy of Rushay and DamienHR.