In every season of life, I’ve wanted God to give me clear direction and a clear answer. What should I major in? Should I marry this guy? What should I do with my life? Do I let my baby cry-it-out or would that permanently damage her for the rest of her life? What kind of schooling should I have my kids in? Life is full of tough decisions that the Bible just doesn’t always directly answer. As much as I sometimes wish He would, God doesn’t operate like a magic 8 ball.
While God doesn’t always give us the direct answer we want to all of life’s questions, He does give us the wisdom to navigate through life. But how do we get it? If you’re familiar with the Bible, you might know that Proverbs 1:7 says that the fear of God – trusting His voice instead of your own – is the beginning of wisdom. You might be less familiar with Proverbs 4:7: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”
I love the simplicity of this verse. Want wisdom? Great! Go get it! Okay, it’s not very clear on how to get wisdom, but it shows that we will indeed chase after something, so let that something be wisdom. Being pregnant, I’m reminded of how when I get a craving for something, I will search up and down throughout my whole house to find it. I will go out of my way to go pick some up from the store and I will pay extra money just to have it! Friends, let us search for wisdom like a pregnant woman who will go to all lengths to possess that which she craves. Let us long for the wisdom of God and diligently seek after it no matter what the cost, as Proverbs encourages us to do:
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, emphasis mine)
These verses show how we must seek after wisdom, but also where we must seek. Repeatedly in Scripture, we are promised that God gives wisdom to those who ask Him. We mustn’t miss the fact that wisdom in the Bible is often personified, perhaps because it’s something we gain not through gathering mere facts or a clear answer, but through an active relationship with our infinitely wise God. We aren’t searching merely for an answer from God, but we pursue, chase, and seek after a relationship with the True Wisdom of God, Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:24 says, that Jesus is “the wisdom of God,” the full embodiment of God’s wisdom. If we want to seek after God’s wisdom, we must chase after a relationship with Jesus. Though eternally existant, He humbled Himself to the form of a man. Though the Author of Life, He experienced death. Though worthy of all praise and adoration and honor and glory, He experienced the jeers of men and the bitter words, “Crucify Him!” And while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is the wisdom of God, though to the world, this “word of the cross is folly” (1 Cor. 1:18). Don’t be surprised if the world thinks you’re a fool for following Jesus. Yet, in the wisdom of God, Jesus died the death of a fool, so that we who are actually fools may become wise in Him.
So, get wisdom. Crave it and chase after it. Make your ear attentive to Jesus’ voice. Incline your heart towards Him. Raise your voice and call out for Him. Seek and search, for He will be found and He will give you not just answers to life’s greatest questions, but something far, far better. He will give you Himself.