I remember as a young person I read the verse, “If any of you lack wisdom, let Him ask of God…”. So, I did! I asked God to please make me a wise person. To help me make wise decisions. I really held on to that verse and took it as a promise of God that if I asked, He would give it to me.
Fast forward all these years, and I have been reading through the book of Proverbs. I did this every month (well, except the days I completely skipped reading my Bible!). When I read though, it was always the Proverbs that matched the date of the month. I liked doing this and thought it went well with the whole wisdom thing. This time, as I have read through Proverbs, I have been doing it very slowly. Studying each verse out to find out what it has been saying. I have had a revelation that I should have seen a long time ago!
All of this time, I have been asking God to make me wise. I want to be a wise person. If I seek wisdom, I will find it. But I have seen something this time that I missed in all the multiple other times I have read Proverbs. I do not seek wisdom. I seek God and He gives me wisdom. He is the giver and grantor of wisdom. It is not MY wisdom that will be found. It is not wisdom that is the goal. The goal is God. As we seek God, we find Him and therefore, we find wisdom. How many times have I made it about me? That I could “confound the wicked” or that people might be amazed at all the wisdom that oozes out of me? Wanting to be wise is very self-focused.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It all starts there. If we are not seeking the Lord, there is no other starting place. Not in colleges (even Bible ones), not in degrees (even theological ones), not in philosophies (whatever your personal one may be), and not even in your realm of service or ministry. We must seek after God. There is where we find Him, and the wisdom will just naturally follow.
My prayer now? No, it is not for wisdom. It is to be a devoted follower of God. Once again, it all comes back to God. He is to be our focus and nothing else. If you notice the verse that I mentioned earlier says, “If any of your lack wisdom…” I am afraid that the reason we ask for wisdom is not because we think we lack it, but because we just want more of it. The more I follow God, the more I realize how little I know and how much I lack. However, the more I follow God, the more I realize how very much He knows and possesses and I can trust Him. Now, that is true wisdom that He longs for us to learn!
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