Happy New Year! I hope and pray that your year will be blessed with more of the presence of God and His favor.
I thought it would be fitting to delve into the New Year with a reminder to be wise. Isn’t this what we all need the most when it comes to dealing with life, more wisdom? Oh, to have the wisdom to know what to do and what not to do, things would be so much easier. To know what to say and what not to say in every situation, especially when we’re dealing with people, life would be just grand. If only we could just automatically know what to do and say on all occasions, our lives would be set. Life would be so much easier to deal with. Unfortunately, it’s not the case. For some of us we still continue to struggle with decision making and understanding when to let go of things, and just hand them to the Lord and have Him take care of it. Many of us continue to struggle with planning every single scenario and every unknown situation that might arise. To know when and how to face our situation, even our fears, and deal with it correctly would be such a wonderful thing!
Well, I don’t have all the answers, but I know someone who does. I also know some scriptures that points us in the right direction for gaining more wisdom.
First things first, we need to ask wisdom from the Lord. James the apostle told us clearly in his writing to ask for it. He said,
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. {James 1:5}
Proverbs 2:6 tells us,
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
So if we want more wisdom the first thing we need to do is just simply ask the Lord for it. James assures us that if we do ask God for wisdom, He will give it to us liberally and without reproach. We can be confident that what we are asking for is pleasing before Him and therefore He will grant it to us. However, James warns us that if we doubt and have no faith, it will not be given to us. He said,
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” {James 1:6-7}
So, when we ask, ask believing that this is good and pleasing in His eyes and He is more than willing to give it to us.
The second thing I have found that has helped me have more wisdom is by reading the Bible. There are so many scenarios and instructions in the Bible that teaches us how to be wiser, without having to go through all the pain of having to experience foolish things. Stories like Samson falling for Delilah or King Solomon disobeying the voice of the Lord in acquiring so many wives (especially wives that did not love God and influenced him away from loving the Lord and into serving idols). We can learn from Solomon especially since he was the one who is known to have written the book of Proverbs which is filled with wise sayings and instructions. He was also the one who asked God for wisdom in ruling his nation and was given wisdom far above all the people in his time. So, he knows a thing or two when it comes to being wise because he’s lived it. We can learn from his mistakes and from so many people that are featured in the Bible how to be wiser.
As I have mentioned, another place I like to go to for more instruction on how to be wise is the book of Proverbs. The whole book is about being wise. There is a chapter available for every single day of the month and so I try to read a chapter every day and it never fails to instruct me how to be wise. It even tells us in the first chapter what the book is about:
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
{Proverbs 1:2-6}
Seems to me that one of the most important things about getting wisdom is to come to love and accept instruction. Wanting knowledge and instruction are the most important ingredients to having wisdom. I don’t know about you, but I find that wanting and loving instruction is not that easy. It seems to me in our generation today we don’t like it when people start to tell us what to do. We get into such a defensive attitude when someone who has more knowledge and understanding about certain subjects starts to tell us what they know. We tell them in our heads they don’t know what they’re talking about, especially when we’ve made up our minds about certain things and issues. Even if it is obvious they’ve done more research and have more experience on a subject, we scorn them away in our hearts because we’ve already made up our minds on what we want to believe in. This is really scary and dangerous because we can end up keeping ourselves from the path of truth and life. We should always have an open mind about any subject and learn anything we can along the way. This is why it is important to talk to the Lord about getting wisdom and to ask Him also to help us be open and receptive to His directions in our lives. We need to have a continuous conversation with the Lord about everything every day. This way He can let us know if something we’re reading, hearing, and learning is good for us or not. It is imperative to always talk to Him. It is crucial to our path of getting wiser to listen to the voice of the Lord because He above all is wisdom and knows how to make us wise.
There are so many benefits to having wisdom. Having wisdom goes hand in hand with having God’s favor and walking in the righteous path of life. The Bible tells us that when we love knowledge and instruction we will come to understand things. Proverbs tells us:
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things. {Proverbs 2:9-12}
Wisdom will keep us from falling into the path of darkness and evil. It will keep us from being froward or someone who is habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition, a characteristic that God hates so much.
They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight. {Proverbs 11:20}
When we have wisdom we will have discretion. We will come to know what to do and say and how to say it. We will have life and grace. We will walk safely and we will not stumble. When we lie down to sleep we will not fear. Our sleep will be sweet to us. We will not be afraid of sudden fear even when there are bad things that will happen. We will have peace because the Lord will be our confidence and He will keep us. {Proverbs 3:21-26} When we have wisdom, we have God because wisdom comes from the Lord and He gives it to those that delight themselves in Him.
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. {Proverbs 3:13-18}
Prayer
Father You are wisdom and I thank You today that You are available to us always and at all times whenever we need You. You are more than able and willing to give us of Yourself any time we ask of You and for more of Your counsel. Lord Jesus, I pray Savior, that You would please give us wisdom today to pray and talk to You all the time so that we can know the path to life. Help us to know where to go, what to do and what to say. Please Jesus, lead us in the path of righteousness for Your name’s sake so that we will glorify Your name on this earth and bring praise to our heavenly Father who gave His life for us, and is truly kind and merciful to us. We humbly come before You Lord, asking for more of Your grace and Your wisdom in our lives today, I pray in Your most wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You Father. Amen.
