"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." (James 1:5).
I bet all of us have a similar picture in our minds of what a wise man looks like. He is possibly old, bald, with leathery skin, a long white beard, short, carries an oversized book and probably dressed in some kind of robe or tunic. If you are like me and are picturing characters that you may have seen in movies, chances are he is sitting under a tree or on a mountain top, and speaks in weird sentences that require interpretation.
But what is wisdom? Especially, what is wisdom as the Bible teaches us? And how do we apply Biblical wisdom to our daily lives? Over the coming weeks we will look at these and other questions as we look at some of the wise sayings in the book of Proverbs.
The Meaning of Wisdom
The picture alluded to above of a wise man has absolutely nothing to do with how the Bible portrays wisdom. Rather than it referring to knowledge of tangible things or philosophical applications to life, to have those things means nothing if you do not know God. Psalms 14:1 and 53:1 both state that a fool declares that there is no God, therefore, though a person may seem wise, his denial of God makes him a fool.
So if wisdom is not knowledge alone, what is it? In Hebrew, the word for wisdom is "hakam" which means skillful or practical. We see this word used in Exodus where God gave people certain wisdom in terms of skills in order to make the garments for Aaron and the high priest (see Exodus 28:2-3). We see this again later in Exodus 35 for those gifted with the necessary skills to build the tabernacle.
However, when you reach the book of Proverbs, wisdom, or skill, is not limited to hand crafts, but goes as far as looking at skillful living. More importantly, it implies living skillfully according to the knowledge we have about God and His desires on how we should live.
We see this connection in the introductory verses to the book of Proverbs where Solomon flanks the word wisdom with several parallel words. He uses words like instruction (which includes the idea of correction and discipline), understanding (implies looking at the heart), prudence (which can mean shrewdness or cleverness), knowledge (not limited to merely knowing, but also applying), discretion (focusses on prudent planning) learning (to grasp the truth) and guidance (wise counsel) (see verses 1-6). Later in Proverbs 2:7-22 through a whole series of proverbs about morality, we see the direct connection between wisdom and righteous living.
Therefore, we can clearly see that wisdom goes beyond knowledge of a subject, but includes application of the things of God and His desire for righteous living.
Living Wisely Today
We are living in a day and age where wisdom seems to be devoid of morality and correct behaviour. People seek out others who have a head knowledge about things, but are lacking in the heart knowledge. Even the church has not escaped this as we see many people in the church who have a head knowledge about Scripture, but do not seem to be living according to the Word of God. There seems to be more worldliness creeping into the church because true Biblical wisdom has not penetrated the heart.
You may think that you are wise, but does your lifestyle match up to what God desires? Are you blameless, just, and living righteously? Are you a person of integrity, purity and humility? Is your life free of things like pride, evil speech and bad deeds? If you cannot say that these things define you, then there is a mismatch between your claim to being wise and your lifestyle. And as a result, you are not truly wise according to God's view of wisdom. If that is the case, come before God today, ask Him for His wisdom, and He will give it as promised.
Just a Thought!
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