Intellectuals make a good living but a wise man makes a good life. Good living might give comfort and pleasure. On the other hand, good life assures happiness. While the world measures human success in terms of “things” earned, God measures the same by its “values”. The Bible puts focus on human wisdom rather than on the intellectual ability of man.
Who is a wise man? A wise man will have a combination of experience, knowledge, and good judgment as per the definition of the dictionary. Is it possible for men to have all the possible experience in one life, all knowledge to derive judgment? In today’s world, it isn't easy. Somebody may be knowledgeable, but not wise enough with experience to make a right judgment. But we know wisdom is essential for our personal, professional, and spiritual life.
When God gave King Solomon a choice to choose anything he wanted, Solomon asked for a discerning heart and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. King Solomon went on and write three books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon), which are part of the Old Testament, and put much of his focus in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes around being wise and not being foolish. The word wisdom repeats eighty times in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and the word fool repeats ninety-five times. That’s the magnitude of focus Solomon has put on the topic of wisdom in his books.
In Proverbs, King Solomon gives principles and sources from which we can gain wisdom.
God is the source of our Wisdom:
Our fundamental source of wisdom and its beginning comes from God. The verse Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom repeats twice (1:7, 9:10) in proverbs. God being all source (2:6) of wisdom and knowledge, can make anybody wise independent of age and background. God was the source of wisdom for Joseph, Daniel, and Moses when the odds were stacked against them. God raised them up for His own glory by shining the wisdom through their life.
Other sources of our Wisdom:
Our elders in our family have more experience and discernment than us. Hence it's important to take advice from our parents and elders to gain discernment from their life.
The other key elements such as being humble, willing to take advice, and having the ability to lead a disciplined life act as sources of wisdom in our life.
What wisdom gives in our life?
James writes about two kinds of wisdom. The wisdom that comes from God vs. worldly wisdom. The Godly wisdom which has God as the source will have the attributes of God and the worldly wisdom will have traces of earthly attributes.
15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. - James 3:15-17
Do we lack wisdom in our lives? Wisdom to choose the right job, wisdom in guiding our children, Wisdom in our ministries, We need Wisdom every day. Let us pray to God to give us the wisdom to lead our lives in a Godly way and make the right choices.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. - James 1:5
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