Where can Wisdom be found?

Struggling mightily with the meaning of suffering, Job asks the question, “Where can wisdom be found?” (Job 28:12 NIV)

We live in a world of ever increasing information and access to it.  It’s easy to get information overload.  What should I believe that I read or hear or see?   It’s easy to assume that gaining information equates with gaining wisdom.  But clearly it doesn’t.  You can gather all kinds of information and much of it will be mutually contradictory.  Many questions remain.  What should I do in this or that specific situation?  How do I order my life?  How do I make decisions large and small?  What about the big picture of my life in general?  Where is it going?  What are worthy goals?  How do I cope with the stresses of life?  What does all this amount to anyway?  What will be important when I look back on my life?  How do I balance immediate pressures with long-term goals?

The book of Proverbs has much to say about wisdom.  In it we are encouraged to “get wisdom” and not to forsake it after we have received it.  Over and over the value of true wisdom is held up as an overarching goal and framework for our lives.  What is this wisdom that Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, held in such high esteem?  It is God’s wisdom!  It is wisdom that leads in a path that is morally right and just and that gives true fulfillment and meaning in life. God sets the moral standards of the universe. God alone knows how things ultimately work and how we are to get our lives in line with His ways so that they work the way they are meant to.

In James 1:5-6, we are encouraged: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”  In other words, if you need wisdom for anything, ask God for it.  He’s ready and waiting to give it to you!  He’s generous about this and everything else you truly need.  Just ask in faith!  Get rid of doubts and anxieties.  If you sincerely ask Him for wisdom, He’ll give it to you.  He won’t find fault with you or criticize you.  He wants you to ask Him.  He wants to give it.  He wants you to have faith that He cares and that He has the wisdom you need.  Your job is to believe it and receive it.

My experience is that God does give wisdom.  Sometimes He surprises me with a very quick and unexpected answer to my questions.  Often I ask Him and then just go about my business but with peace that He has heard and will answer.  At the right time, I will come across some information. Someone may say something that the Lord seems to be highlighting. My thoughts will be guided in a certain direction.  Through circumstances in my life, God will teach me something.  Sometimes I’m not aware that God is speaking to me at the time but afterward I realize He was guiding me.  Always God’s wisdom lines up with how He has revealed Himself to His people in the past as is recorded in the Bible and made clear to us through the Holy Spirit.

The hardest times for me to understand what God is saying occur when there is some resistance in me to God’s plan for whatever reason.  This could be fear or stubborn pride or a sense that it doesn’t fit with my preconceived ideas or preferences.  Proverbs call this “leaning on you own understanding”.  It betrays a lack of trust in God in the area where you are seeking His wisdom and resisting it at the same time.  Choose to trust Him and what He is speaking to your heart and it will become clear.  Surrender you mind and your self-will to Him.  Do not lean on your own understanding.  Choose to trust.  Grow in trust.

Ultimately, wisdom is found in a relationship with Jesus and in Him alone.  True wisdom is to believe in and follow Jesus.  People can be highly intelligent and educated but if this leads them away from God and his Son Jesus it is ultimately the greatest folly of all.  The apostle Paul tells us that “Christ Jesus…has become for us [who believe] wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV).  He has indeed become my wisdom.  Trusting in Jesus for all things temporal and eternal is the wisest thing I or anyone can ever do.  Through faith in Jesus we can “know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3 NIV.)  All that we need to know for this life and the next is hidden in Christ.  God will reveal to us through His Holy Spirit what we need to know to pass through all things temporal in a way that we do not lose the things eternal (to paraphrase a familiar Anglican collect or prayer).  This wisdom creates balance and peace in our lives.  God’s wisdom helps us in all areas from the specific and practical to the big questions about the meaning and purpose of life.

I don’t have to strain my brain to try to figure everything out or fret about every large and small decision. I don’t have to feel superior or inferior to anyone.  I don’t have to be filled with anxiety as I did when I was younger and didn’t know the Lord and His peace.  I can seek His wisdom in all things and trust in Him to guide me in the path of living wisely and fruitfully for and with Him.

In this Epiphany season of God’s love, may you be filled with the wisdom that comes from knowing Wisdom Himself, Jesus our Lord.

[stream provider=youtube flv=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DmZsSRaaHKGA img=x:/img.youtube.com/vi/mZsSRaaHKGA/0.jpg embed=true share=false width=580 height=325 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=med autostart=false /]

The following hymn (here in a new setting) was my paternal grandmother’s favourite and I offer it in thanksgiving for the witness of her faith in Jesus.

[stream provider=youtube flv=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DVQyDePlgGKM img=x:/img.youtube.com/vi/VQyDePlgGKM/0.jpg embed=true share=false width=580 height=325 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=med autostart=false /]