How Do I Gain Wisdom?
“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;” Proverbs 2:1-6
We think of wise people as those who understand everything. Dumbledore, Mufasa, Gandalf, Yoda, and Aslan are some of the wise movie characters that come to mind. One thing I think all these people have in common in addition to being wise and knowledgeable is that they are unselfish.
In this passage, what does it say wisdom is? It is understanding the fear of the Lord and finding the knowledge of God. Put another way, wisdom is seeking to know God and do as He commands, and foolishness is turning away from God and only listening to yourself.
We gain wisdom by being in God’s Word. Wisdom is something God gives us over time. It won’t be something that happens immediately after reading the Bible a few times. We must eat, swallow, and digest the Word so often that we develop a taste for the Word and crave it. That is how we become wise.
When I was in Ghana for part of one summer on a medical mission trip, we went to a school one day to play with the kids. One song that they sang for us still sticks out in my head. They sang, “Read your Bible, pray every day, if you want to grow.”
There was so much wisdom in their song. That is how we grow as people. Reading the Bible and praying so that we come to know God more intimately. As we continue to learn more about the character and person of God, He fills us with his love and wisdom.