Wising Up

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)


What makes a person wise? Better yet, how does a person become wise?

Gray hair? Enough experience under the belt? Time? Hanging around with wise people? Reading? Studying? Taking a philosophy course? Going on a life journey? Eating, loving and praying?

Some of those answers deserve a chuckle, while others are commonly responses to such a question. I've come across a number of people who grant great esteem to anyone with a little gray hair and a few wrinkles.

But the Bible tells us there is one, and only one, way to become truly wise. Proverbs 2:6 says that God gives wisdom, and He speaks it into our lives. True wisdom = God's perspective on any and every issue = only comes as it is given to us by God.

I few years ago I watched a video series by Beth Moore called Wising Up. At the beginning of this series Beth made an assertion that caught me off guard and bothered me a little at first. But then I checked it out by carefully researching the book of Proverbs myself, and found her to be right on target. Pulling from my memory, here's basically what Beth said:

God holds a lot of things out to us in open hands: things like grace and love and blessings and air to breathe. But God holds wisdom in a closed hand. He will graciously open His hands and give us wisdom, but not without condition. We must seek Him and humbly, fearfully ask for wisdom before He will open His hands wide and pour wisdom into our lives. He wants us to be wise, but we must seek that wisdom from Him.

Like I said, I checked out Beth's assertion, and I found her to be right. Wisdom begins with a healthy fear of God, a fear that esteems God and the mind of God. Wisdom is given when we ask for it and seek it from Him passionately.

Do you need wisdom for living? Wisdom for managing your money, disciplining your children, navigating your career, choosing a mate, investing your talents, finding a church family, mentoring your daughter, making a move, discipling your son, going on mission, pursuing a passion? Of course you do! We all desperately need wisdom every day for any manner of things.

And we'll receive wisdom when we passionately seek it from the One who holds it in His loving, generous, willing, but closed hand. Go ahead. Pry open the fingers of God, and search for His wisdom for your life. He just wants you to ask.

Who do you esteem to be wise? Are they really wise, godly wise? Sure, it's a good idea to surround ourselves with wiser, older, more experienced believers. But "the Lord gives wisdom" and He's still the best one to seek it from.

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