Praying for Wisdom, Part 1

In continuing the Wednesday night lessons on prayer for our ladies, we studied examples of and a command to pray for wisdom. When I introduced the lesson, I asked what it is that we are really asking for when we pray for wisdom. Usually, I’m thinking: Please, Lord, tell me what to do! Help me decide what the best choice is.

But my question was whether God is going to always do that. Is God going to tell me (for the example I gave in class) which vaccination schedule is best for my child? Well, no, he’s not. There will be no direct revelation from God to help me on that one. So what are we asking for when we ask for wisdom?

These questions in my own study led me to look (generally) at wisdom in the Bible. If we are praying for wisdom, then we should know how the Bible talks about it. This first post will focus on wisdom itself: What is it? How do we get it? Where do some try to find wisdom? What does it look like when we do have the wisdom of God?

Definitions of Wisdom

The Hebrew word for wisdom is chokmah, which means “skill in technical matters, experience, shrewdness.”1 This word was frequently used in describing the skills that the workers of the tabernacle had in building, sculpting, embroidery, etc. (cf. Exodus 28:3; 35:26, 35; 36:1).

The more commonly recognized Greek word sophia is defined as “the capacity to understand and function accordingly.”2

I have frequently heard (and you probably have too) wisdom defined as “the practical application of knowledge.” My question regarding this definition was this: If biblical wisdom is the practical application of knowledge, what is the knowledge that we are applying?

The Bible connects knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Proverbs 1:7 tells us:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Likewise, Psalm 11:10:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!”

The Source of True Wisdom

Wisdom Belongs to God

Daniel ascribed wisdom to God. He then exemplified how God shows that wisdom, tied to his might:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter” (Daniel 2:20-23, ESV).

The apostle Paul describes God’s wisdom in terms of depth and richness:

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:33-35, ESV).

God Gives Believers Wisdom

In Daniel’s description above we not only saw that wisdom belongs to God but also that “he gives wisdom to the wise.” Any wisdom we have is sourced in God.

The book of Proverbs—a book chiefly interested in wisdom—also tells us that God gives wisdom to the upright. Then Proverbs describes what it looks like to have wisdom in your heart:

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways” (Proverbs 2:6-15, ESV).

Christ is God’s Wisdom

Paul also tells believers that we are in Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3, ESV). Christ then becomes to us wisdom from God:

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30, ESV).

God Gives Wisdom to Believers Through the Knowledge of Christ

God is the source of wisdom. God tells us he will give us wisdom. Christ is God’s Wisdom. We are in Christ, thus we have the wisdom of Christ. So, Paul says, know Christ and you will have wisdom:

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17, ESV, emphasis added).

Alternate Sources of “Wisdom” 

Apart from knowing Christ and His Word, people attempt to gain wisdom from other sources. But what they find is not wisdom at all.

Self-wisdom

Especially with the start of the industrial revolution and the advances made in the early 20^th century, many people began to think that science and man’s mind were sufficient and powerful. Richard Tarnas, a cultural historian, wrote:

“Man was responsible for his own earthly destiny. His own wits and will could change the world. Science gave man a new faith—not only in scientific knowledge, but in himself.”3

This self-reliance on man’s wisdom did not begin with the industrial revolution, however. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the ancient Babylonians:

“You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me’; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me’” (Isaiah 47:10, ESV).

These ancients had replaced the great I AM (cf. Exodus 3:14) with themselves.

Jeremiah gave God’s warning to Israel to not boast in their human wisdom, but rather in knowing God:

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord’” (Jeremiah 9:23-24, ESV).

Paul echoes these thoughts in exhorting believers in Corinth, telling them that they shouldn’t deceive themselves into buying in to their own and the world’s wisdom:

“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20, ESV).

The World’s Wisdom

If the world does not know God, then they cannot know true wisdom. Whatever the world calls wisdom is actually not wisdom; it is foolishness:

“For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:19-21, ESV).

James actually goes so far as to describe the “wisdom” of the world (and its accompanying characteristics) as not only foolishness but as earthly, unspiritual, and demonic:

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:14-16, ESV).

It is no wonder, then, that Paul pleads with and questions the believers in Colossae for accepting the wisdom and worldview of the world:

“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:20-23).

Paul clearly warned the believers to be captivated by Christ, not by worldly philosophy and wisdom:

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8, ESV).

Human wisdom—the wisdom of the world—and the wisdom of God through the knowledge of Christ are mutually exclusive. So, the source of a believer’s wisdom must be God alone, through the knowledge of Christ, by the means of God’s Word.4

The Results of Wisdom

If we partake of the world’s wisdom, as James practically reminds us (see James 3:14-16 above), doing so will reveal itself in unspiritual practices in our lives. But true wisdom, wisdom sourced in God, is different. James contrasts the outcomes of earthly wisdom with the wisdom from above:

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:17-18, ESV).

Scripture is full of what wise living looks like. The book of Proverbs in particular contrasts the lives and outcomes of foolish and wise individuals. Beyond this, the Church itself shows the “manifold wisdom of God” (cf. Ephesians 3:7-13). And believers within each local church can teach and admonish each other in wisdom, as they have the source of that wisdom—the word of Christ—dwelling richly in them (cf. Colossians 3:16).

Next time, we will look at some examples of prayers for wisdom, as well as a command to pray for wisdom when we lack it. But for now, we can be encouraged to know that in the knowledge of Christ through his Word, we already have wisdom. As we shun the world’s wisdom, take in God’s Word, believe it, and do it, we will also manifest a life of wisdom.

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Image by reenablack from Pixabay

1. Ludwig Koehler et al., in The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 314. [↩]
2. William Arndt et al., in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 934. [↩]
3. Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind (New York: Ballantine Books, 1991), 319. [↩]
4. This is not to say that we cannot gain information from the facts we can gain from the world. John MacArthur spoke to this in a sermon on Ephesians 1:15-23: “Now I know that when you think about the world, you think there’s a certain degree of sophistication in the world; and on some level there is. There certainly is from the hard sciences and things like that, mathematics and so forth. But when it comes to philosophy, which is a way to understand the world while ignoring God or rejecting God, you get nothing but empty deception, and you get nothing but human ideas passed down from one person to another person” (John MacArthur, “Our Great Savior, Part 1.” Gty.org, 8 Aug. 2021, https://www.gty.org/sermons/49-5/our-great-savior-part-1). [↩]