Reality Check

 “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles." (Proverbs 1:5–6)

Ayn Rand famously quipped, "You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." This is never more true than when it comes to God and the wisdom of those who order their steps to find Him. 

What is wisdom in the first place? 

Wisdom is the ability to live life skillfully, to pursue the right end, at the right time, in the right way, and for the right reason. It is, therefore, quite different from knowledge. Knowledge enables a man to test well, but it takes wisdom to live well.

When it comes to wisdom, Solomon says that there is no standing still. We are either growing in wisdom or veering into the paths of folly, "Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance" (Proverbs 1:5). It is the Matthew principle all over again, that is, that the one who has, to him more shall be given, but to the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away from him. That's the thing about wisdom; you have to have wisdom to recognize it, to want it, and to live the kind of life that gets more of it. 

Where does Wisdom Begin?

So, where does the life of wisdom begin? It starts, as you might expect, with God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." No surprises here, I trust? If we get the God question wrong, how can we expect to get any other question right in life? Without God front and center in our mind's eye, every other detail in life will appear too big, important, and necessary. Only those who can say with the psalmist, "One thing I have desired and that I shall seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord and meditate in His temple” (Psalm 27:4), truly see the world in proper proportion.

We get to the God of wisdom in His Word: 

"The law of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple." To the Hebrew, the simple or naïve man is a F.I.T (a Fool-in-Training). He is too young to have experience and yet is prone to lean into life with unbecoming overconfidence. If wisdom is the skillful application of knowledge, we can't very well apply what we don't know. So, the naïve, young lad is vulnerable, for he who is empty-headed may soon become wrong-hearted.

We also get to the God of wisdom in His Son. 

"And because of (God), you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption…." Jesus is the personification of wisdom. We can only get this wisdom by spending unhurried time in His presence. Does that describe you? Are you a man or a woman who has caught the wisdom of Jesus through close association? We will not find it anywhere else.

We also get the God of wisdom in prayer: 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8)

Thankfully, we serve a generous God who will not abandon a man to drown in his folly if he turns Godward in his search for understanding. With this prayer, we should also remember to ask God,  Unite my heart to fear Your name!” This, too, is a necessary and much-needed grace. Without it, we will find ourselves forever halting between two opinions, unsure whether God or the world deserves all of our hearts. The double-minded man tries to "back both horses" and ends up losing it all.

Everything hangs, then, on God's open-handed generosity and our willingness to engage it on our knees. Without this gift, we will never have wisdom. And for the fool, this is the real tragedy, wisdom was there for the asking all along. All he had to do was ask. And for the fool that’s always going to be the problem. As we said initially, wisdom is one of those things that a man has to have before he can get any more. Let’s all go to God, therefore today, crying out, “O Lord, I will not let you go until you bless me with wisdom!”