Wisdom! Who Needs It?

The following is an excerpt from A Faith That Is Real.

Wisdom! Who Needs It?
James 1:5-8

A bride and groom have just returned from their honeymoon. The bride excitedly prepares her first meal for her husband, a beautiful candlelit dinner. She has informed him that there are two things she cooks very well-apple pie and vegetable lasagna. He takes a bite, chews thoughtfully, and asks, "Which is this?"

. . . Now we will look at the need for wisdom in going through these trials, and the need to understand our trials from God's perspective.

Wisdom in Trials
What is wisdom? Wisdom is the practical use of knowledge. It is not only having knowledge, but also knowing how to use it. Wisdom is an incredibly powerful force that helps us to make right decisions and keeps us from failures that would destroy us.

When do we need wisdom? James instructs us to ask God for wisdom when we are going through a trial. In the midst of a difficult situation, we can simply cry out to the Lord.

Wisdom is quite different from advice. When we ask for advice, we have usually already made up our minds and are just looking for someone to validate our decisions. If a person doesn't give the advice we are looking for, we just ignore it. In the same way, we rarely go to God and say, "Lord, I really don't care how this decision will affect me, or how much stress and suffering it may cause, I just want to do what you want me to do." Rather, we have usually already figured out in our heads what we are going to do, and what we are really thinking is, "God, here's the path I'm going to take. Will you bless my choice and help me as I go?

What God desires from us is that emptiness that genuinely seeks out his wisdom. We can read the Bible until we are blue in the face and memorize hundreds of verses, but unless we recognize the will of God and do it, it won't make us wise.

One time my dad said to me, "I wish all these books on raising kids had been around when I was raising you." True, there are more books today on raising children; however, reading a parenting book every day will not make us wise parents. We have to take knowledge and apply it to our situations. That is the kind of wisdom James is talking about-the wisdom that allows us to take information and process it in a way that is beneficial and useful.

Wisdom is taking knowledge and knowing how to apply it to our lives. The Bible commands us to pursue wisdom, to seek it out (see Proverbs 4:5-7). Each one of us needs wisdom. Wisdom centers our lives. That doesn't mean we are going to have all the answers, but it does allow us to focus on who God is and what he is doing in our lives-which is molding us into the people he wants us to be. . .

God bless you,

Dan

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