Pursuit of Wisdom
Wisdom is supreme. Therefore wisdom must govern the paths of a man’s life.
When wisdom enters your heart, it brings a lifelong peace and soundness of mind.
God is the source and center of all wisdom. The more we understand the heart of God, the wiser we will become. Now, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is merely stored information while wisdom is the ability to accurately apply it. Wisdom is not a spiritual gift for the few but a requirement for the many. If we do not accurately apply the word of God in life, we will be ashamed before Him. As it is written,
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15)
We are called to apply and live out the Scriptures in truth and with accuracy.
How can we expect God to be pleased in us unless we faithfully seek to please Him through obedience to His word? This isn’t a call to legalism but a call to obedience through the accurate application of the word of God.
Indeed, we are called to grow in wisdom, and the wisdom of God should be the first thing we seek. Seeing that it is the most important wisdom a person could find, it will be our emphasis in this habit. And as it is also written,
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’; and again, ‘The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’” (1 Cor. 3:18–20)
God desires us to be spiritually sound and habitually wise people. Yet He doesn’t exhort us to know many worldly things but rather to plunge the depths of spiritual wisdom. The wisdom of the Spirit isn’t something we can find in and of ourselves. Some people read the scriptures and interpret it for themselves. God has a specific meaning to the word, thus it is always best to pray before we read.
If we listen to the Spirit while we seek wisdom, God will lead us to the truthful outcomes. Therefore it is always good to habitually put our hearts before the
Lord to learn the truth about life around us. All wisdom is the accurate application of knowledge in truth.
Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom, and God made him wise in all things. Yet the most profound and most influential wisdom he had was spiritual. The Scriptures tell us that he knew all manner of knowledge, even of science, and confounded those around him. Yet what do we see in the scriptures? Notes about the birds he studied or deep spiritual wisdom to guide our relationships in Christ?
He was wise in all things no doubt, but the wisdom that remains forever is the wisdom of God. Therefore seek the wisdom that’s eternally impactful.
Remember that this world will be dissolved being on fire, yet the wisdom of God will remain forever.
Do not seek wisdom of yourself but pray for it and have faith. For Solomon sought the Lord, and God gave it to Him. As we read,
“At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said,
‘Ask! What shall I give you?’
“And Solomon said: ‘You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"
“The speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him: "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My
commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” (1 Kings 3:5–14)
Then what do the scripture say of Solomon later?
“And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.
And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” (1 Kings 4:29–34)
God will indeed give us wisdom in regard to all things. Yet it is He who shows us how to accurately apply all things. For there is little greater to request of the Lord than wisdom. Some may claim, “Love fulfills the law; seek that!” Indeed we ought to, and rightly so. But it is His Spirit who shows us how to rightly apply love, which is the wisdom of love. True love is found by learning to love another with wisdom. As it is written,
“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.” (Phil. 1:9)
Now, some may argue that they can find wisdom of their own accord. “God gave me a brain and an imagination to use it. Why do I need God to show me these things?” Who made wisdom, and what is its source? Who is wiser than God?
Who can compare to Him and contain infinite knowledge like Him? Consider all that the wisdom of God has accomplished.
By His wisdom He made the sun and the stars. The sun is roughly 1.3 million times bigger than our world by volume. Yet the largest known star is VY Canis Majoris, which is nearly 12 billion times the size of the sun! That makes it over 15 quadrillion times the size of earth! For those who don’t know, a quadrillion is one billion millions.
Even though they’re so large, the stars are as numerous as the grains of sand on a beach. There are so many that since creation, man is still trying to count them all. The universe itself is so enormous that no one could ever cross it. But to God, its length is a mere span of His hand. As we read,
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” (Isa. 40:12)
The sight of a star tells us “God has been here,” where no man could ever hope to go. God, in His wisdom, made the sea and taught the waters to collect together that dry land may appear. He raised up the mountains and lowered valleys. He created birds of the air, fish, and all manner of creatures in the sea. Then, in His wisdom, He made them live.
Consider all the creatures He’s made! From insects to reptiles to the teaming life of the deep seas to every land dwelling animal. There are so many creatures that one cannot even count them! God gave Adam a commission to name all the creatures, and to this day, nearly five and a half thousand years later, we are still finding new animals to name every year.
Consider also all the animals that have gone extinct. There is no telling of all that existed before the Flood, and what remains is a small fragment of what there used to be. Scientists speculate that there were as many as 4 billion different species of animals walking the earth at one given point in time. Now after the flood, over-predation, the effects of man, disease, famine, among others things, there are only 50 million known species in the world. Scientists estimate that 99.9% of all species that have existed throughout all time are now extinct! With 50 million species still around today, that shows the great diversity God created this earth to have. His wisdom is utterly incomprehensible!
To this day no one knows how life exists or how it works. They understand the chemical reactions but not the source or substance of life itself. If life consisted of mere chemistry, then why can’t a scientist create a form of life from atoms and molecules that’s never been seen before? Instead, they need pieces of life (such as DNA) to create more life. But God, in His wisdom, created molecules, atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons, and all manner of particles that create the world we know. Then He chose the various particles, made a creature, and breathed life into it.
The smallest things in creation are so complex that no one fully understands them to this day. Many particles still remain theories and have never been observed because they’re too small and difficult to detect. But the largest of all things are made from the smallest of all. For God, in His wisdom, made all these things come together to create the mountains, the sky, the oceans, and even planets and stars larger than our world.
God understands these things and created the universe in all its complexities in just six days. Yet man has spent thousands of years trying to figure out creation and still can’t comprehend the faintest things about it. If we can’t comprehend what God did thousands of years ago, how can we even hope to understand what He’s doing now and what He will do? Are not His plans better than ours? Yet many try to apply the things of God without His direction. But no one can comprehend the works of God, so how can they hope to apply them without Him working through them? But even as it is written,
“As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.” (Eccl. 11:5)
It’s a true saying that what we don’t know is far greater than what we do know.
All the knowledge of mankind combined since creation until now amounts to nothing compared to one second of God’s infinite and perfect wisdom.
Why then would anyone seek wisdom in and of themselves? Why would they seek to be wise by themselves? God created all things and authored wisdom.
Shouldn’t we seek it at its source?
Do the thirsty wait for the rain to collect in puddles to collect it in vessels? Or do they go down deep to the source of water and drink as much as they want? Even so, we should dig deep in our relationship with the Lord and draw up His wisdom. We gain more wisdom by seeking it while listening to God’s voice during our pursuit. In this, He directs us to the wisest outcome.
Many people do this with the larger decisions in life but forget to be led in a daily walk with Christ. People will fast for a week in the big decisions then they seem to think they can handle it on their own in the smaller things. But if you were submissive in all things, then you’d understand the voice of God and wouldn’t need to fast for direction from Him. For His direction would come naturally to you seeing that you practice it constantly.
We must listen to God’s Spirit and obey Him on a moment by moment basis. As we said, the biggest things in our universe are made from the smallest. Even so, your smallest steps will always equate to the bigger ones. Therefore we must seek God and His wisdom on a daily basis and not only in the big decisions in life. But that God judges us according to the little things is evident. For Jesus said,
“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust
in what is least is unjust also in much.” (Luke 16:10)
Knowing this, we should seek to be found faithful in Christ through following His Spirit. The least we do adds up to the greatest. Seeing that the bigger things are created by the smaller, you can’t possibly be following God in the big decisions unless you’ve been surrendering to Him in the small ones as well.
Yet some do not surrender every moment to the Lord. They justify their stand point and seek to lead their own lives. God gives us wisdom, and we should seek it from Him. In order to grow in it, we must be listening to His Spirit daily and obeying Him. How, even for a moment, can we think that anything else in this world can compare to Him? For we read,
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, And showed Him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?”
(Isa. 40:12–18)
The wisdom of God is not found through colleges and extensive study. Not even Bible colleges can help you unless you’ve been led there by God. God is the ultimate source of wisdom, and Jesus is our mediator, not men in schools. If the Spirit specifically led you to Bible school, that’s one thing, but if you go of your own accord, your works are not through Christ and cannot attain to His. This doesn’t honor God to seek to be taught by men, but God exhorts us to be taught by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit connects us to the heart and mind of Christ, and through Him, we find our wisdom. Even as it is written,
“For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (Prov. 2:6)
And also,
“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (1 Cor.
2:13)
And as Jesus also said,
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26)
The Holy Spirit teaches us as we learn His voice. Then when we know it with certainty, He shows us the meaning of the Scriptures and how to apply them daily.
Yes, we should listen to the teachings of our pastors, but we must not neglect our personal relationship with the Lord. A true pastor has received a spiritual gift from the Lord and teaches you through the Spirit as he is led. Therefore it is God teaching you through the man and not the man himself. As we grow in the Lord, we will be able to discern His voice more accurately through others. Then, with discernment and discretion, we can rightly divide what the Lord is saying and what the individual is telling us.
Now, we should be careful in seeking the wisdom of this world and not of God.
Yes, God will call some of us to be scientists, scholars, businessmen, politicians, etc., which requires a wholesome college education, but the wisdom of God should come before education in this world. Although being properly educated is an important facet of life, if we cast off the need for godly wisdom, then we make ourselves fools in the end. This is why we read verses such as,
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness.’” (1 Cor. 3:19)
And also,
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33)
Although this is discussing our needs, some turn to education to fill their needs rather than wholly surrendering their lives to Christ and trusting in Him. Such people desire a better income and fear loss if they don’t have it. In this case, their faith is in money, education, and self-actualization rather than the Lord.
They put themselves through school, make a career change, and never lay any of