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Wisdom

What first comes to mind when you think about the Bible and wisdom? The sayings of Jesus? After all, Paul calls Christ “the very wisdom and power of God.” James instructing us to pray for wisdom if we lack it? Whatever your answer, Proverbs also has a lot to say.

Lady Wisdom’s Feast

In Proverbs 9, God uses the imagery of a feast to illustrate the pursuit and acquisition of wisdom. The atmosphere is lively and the food plentiful, but the guests? The simple and those who know they lack sense. The first step to growing in wisdom is admitting we lack it and being willing to be taught. The first nine chapters of the book alternate between paternal appeals from Solomon to his son to pursue wisdom and Lady Wisdom’s appeal on her own behalf.

Wisdom includes what you know, how you live, and who or what you worship. Wisdom gives us the insight and internalizes the knowledge we need to live upright, just, and unbiased lives out of reverence for God that serve and honor our neighbor. It enables us to do God’s work in his ways and for his glory. It teaches us how to wound to heal, how to die to live, and how to love particularly and patiently.

Growing in Wisdom

Wisdom comes both from creating a foundation of right actions and from also seeing them used appropriately in context. Let’s use language learning as an example. Someone with a big vocabulary but who cannot string words together to make sentences does not know a language. Someone who can make sentences, but uses the wrong phrase in the wrong situation cannot be considered fluent. A lot goes into being wise–being watchful and seeing wisdom in action. And, just like with language learning, students of wisdom must be corrected when they err. The pursuit of wisdom is built on a fear of the Lord and combines personal study, community observation and application, constructive feedback, and, of course, as James would say, prayer.

Who are wise people in your life that you could grow from? Who are people a couple of steps behind who might appreciate the company on their journey to grow in wisdom? How can you cultivate these relationships? What about prayer? Do you regularly pray for wisdom? Or just when you’re in a bind? Ask the Lord to grow you in wisdom.