God sometimes reveals his most important guidance when we pray for wisdom about why our circumstances are as they are.
Have you ever wanted to ask God why? Isaac’s wife did, and God answered.
Genesis 25:21–26 says:
“ 21 And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, ‘If it is thus, why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD.
“ 23 And the LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.’
“ 24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.”
Here are four takeaways from this story about inquiring of God.
1. We can inquire of God when we are troubled
Rebekah was deeply troubled by what was happening to her. For two decades she had suffered the sorrow and frustration of barrenness. Then she celebrated the conception of a child. Now, however, she experiences jostling within her womb that she does not understand and cannot control and that is probably painful. Perhaps she did not yet know she had twins within, and so the jostling was both mysterious and worrisome.
2. We can ask God why
“She said, ‘If it is thus, why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD.” (v. 22)
You can ask God your questions, even your why questions. Some people mistakenly suppose we should never ask God why because that is not our place. Others err by expecting God to explain everything, which he certainly will not do because the Christian life requires trust and because he is God and we are not.
Therefore God might answer a why question, but he might not. I do not think this falls within the promise of James 1:5, which says God gives wisdom when we ask. But if we need to know the purpose in a situation and God wants us to know so we will believe his promise, we can expect that he will reveal it.
3. We should inquire in a conducive place
Verse 22 says, “she went to inquire of the Lord.” Where did she go? They did not have a temple; perhaps they had an altar or a place of daily prayer. She might have experienced God’s presence there before. In any event, she went to a conducive setting where she could be alone for an extended time and pay attention to God without distraction.
You might go to a church that has a prayer room or allows people to pray in the worship area. Or you could go to a retreat center dedicated to people who come to pray for a day or more.
4. Inquiring of God may lead to the most important revelations in our lives
God answered Rebekah with a prophetic revelation of the future, unveiling the destiny for her and her children and even for nations: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” (v. 23)
Of course, insights of that magnitude do not happen every time one inquires of the Lord, and not everyone gives birth to children in the promised line leading to the nation of Israel and the Messiah himself! So we should have expectations that are neither too high nor too low.
But we can always inquire of the Lord with confident hope, for Scripture and Christian biographies alike show the Father often reveals his most important guidance and promises as his children inquire of him in times of trouble.
He will usually do that through his written Word. So when you inquire of the Lord, read the Bible much and ask him to guide that reading. He will lead you to Scriptures that are linchpins for a season or even for your entire life.
Conclusion
It might suit God’s purpose to reveal the reason for your circumstances, if you inquire of him.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
We should pray for wisdom every time because what we need even more than wisdom is to have God working with us.
In the Old Testament, when you prayed for wisdom, you were “inquiring of the Lord.” Here is an inspiring example of King David inquiring of the Lord that shows what praying for wisdom can do for us:
“17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 19 And David inquired of the LORD, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?’ And the LORD said to David, ‘Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.’ 20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, ‘The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.’ Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. 21 And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.
“22 And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, ‘You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. 24 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.’ 25 And David did as the LORD commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.” (2 Samuel 5:17–25, ESV)
Four, relevant principles.
We can learn four things from this story about inquiring of God today.
1. Praying for wisdom and following God’s instructions every time he went into battle enabled David to succeed.
God knows everything about us, both strengths and weaknesses, and the challenge we face. He knows past, present, and future. And he knows precisely what will work. He knows how situations remain the same, and he knows how they differ.
2. We should not assume the wisdom we received from God for one situation is necessarily the wisdom we should use for the next situation.
David faced the same enemy in the same place, but God gave him different strategies for the two battles. In the first battle, God said, “Go up.” In the second, he said, “You shall not go up.” We should honor God by asking him for wisdom for each new challenge or task. In this way we put our trust in the Lord rather than in our method.
3. God may sometimes give wisdom in detailed instructions, and sometimes not.
In the first battle, God said only, “‘Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” But in the second battle, God instructed David regarding when, where, and how: “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”
4. The wisdom God gave David worked because God worked with him.
For the first battle, God promised, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.’ God was the primary actor in the battle. He gave the Philistines to David and his troops. If he had not done that, David would not have won.
For the second battle, God said, “When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” When God gives wisdom, God works. He backs up his ideas.
God wants to fight and work with us. He does not want us to ignore him. He does not want us to presume he will help us. And he does not want us to act as though we know what we are doing, that we can handle this without his help. Inquiring of God for wisdom is an act of dependence and submission. We should pray for wisdom every time because what we need even more than wisdom is to have God working with us.
How God communicates
But how does God communicate his wisdom? David presented his question to God, and verse 19 says, “The LORD said to David.” God’s exact words are quoted in detail. That is what most people would love to experience, but it does not seem to work that way for most Christians. It does not work that way for me even though I believe God still works today as he did in the New Testament. God does not talk to me in an audible voice giving precise instructions, and he does not do that for any pastors I know. That does not mean it never happens to anyone, but if it does it is rare, even for genuine servants of God.
The wisdom I am writing about in this series of articles is the wisdom we can pray for daily, for things large and small, for everything we put our hand to. Although God sometimes spoke to David audibly, sometimes through prophets and priests, he was a singular prophet and king in the Old Covenant. Today in the New Covenant, how does God communicate his wisdom to the average Christian who regularly inquires of him?
New Testament promises
Two New Testament promises assure us we can still ask God for wisdom just as David did. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” If only that promise was followed by a specific description about how God will communicate that wisdom to us! But that is not the case. Similarly with the promise of Jesus: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). He does not tell us how we will find or how the door will be opened.
So there must be a reason God typically does not speak to us audibly and does not tell us in detail how we will receive the promised wisdom. He just says it will happen! He must want us to learn by experience.
Equipped
And he has equipped us to do so. In the New Covenant era, we have both the Old and New Testaments, which are his inerrant, written Word. And we have the Holy Spirit living within us, in union with our human spirit, giving us the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), teaching us all things (1 John 2:27).
If we are patient, wise, prayerful, and teachable, and if we are submitted to wise, experienced, godly mentors, we will gradually learn to recognize the wisdom he promised. Most likely God will not communicate with us in just one way, but several. And because we have the Holy Spirit within, God’s wisdom will come to us internally in our thought processes. The subjectivity of that is what can make getting wisdom from God difficult sometimes, but it seems that is what he wants for us. We need to submit to his method, for he is working for good through it. He knows what he is doing, and what he is doing is larger than giving the wisdom we desire.
Recommendations
Therefore I recommend you regularly ask God to give you wisdom about how to pray for wisdom successfully.
I also recommend that, since receiving God’s wisdom is usually not as unmistakable as hearing a voice from a cloud, and since God wants us to learn by experience, you should make praying for wisdom for everything that matters to you a regular practice. Then when you face major needs, you will know how to do it confidently.
As you do that, you will know God and his ways better and better. You will be walking with God.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
No challenge is too great, no question too difficult, when you pray for wisdom from the revealer of mysteries.
Sometimes we will ask God to give wisdom for impossibly difficult things. Think for example of a medical researcher who seeks a cure for cancer or a mother who is raising an autistic child or a small business owner whose company is in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars and hampered by an economy dealing with COVID.
One government official in the Bible faced an impossible situation. Daniel was one of the wise men of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar. The king had a dream that disturbed him so much he felt he had to be absolutely sure of its interpretation.
No doubt he had told many of his dreams to the wise men before, and they had offered various interpretations, most of which struck him in the end as guesswork. So for this extraordinary dream, he decided on a test that would reveal the level of inspiration in the interpreter. He would require the interpreter of dreams to tell him both the dream itself and the interpretation.
Nebuchadnezzar called in the wise men and gave them the ground rules. Then he added some motivation: “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins” (Daniel 2:5).
That is how a king gets things done. What a motivational speaker!
Pray for wisdom from the revealer of mysteries
Daniel and three of his Jewish friends were part of that group of advisors, under the threat of an imminent, grisly death, but they unlike the others were true men of God. They sought him for mercy, and that night Daniel had a vision that gave him all the required information. Then Daniel blessed the Lord, and his words are important for you and all who seek wisdom for impossible situations:
“20 Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. 23 To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.” (Daniel 2:20–23)
Notice six truths from this passage that will give you faith to pray for wisdom from the revealer of mysteries.
1. Wisdom and might belong to God.
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might” (v. 20). Wisdom and might belong to God; that is, they are inherent to him; they are who he is in himself. He did not receive them from someone else. He did not have to learn them. Infinite wisdom and infinite might simply belong to him. There is no limit to them, and so there is nothing impossible with him.
Wisdom and might go together, for wisdom gives might. God’s infinite wisdom gives him the ability to do unimaginably difficult things, such as creating the universe and every form of life on earth from nothing. No problem we can face on earth approaches the difficulty of that divine accomplishment.
So he knows how to cure cancer. He knows how to raise an autistic child or turn a failing business around. He knows how to fix a car no other mechanic can fix. Such situations may seem impossible to us, but for the God of all wisdom and might, they are as simple as one plus one equals two.
2. He can give us wisdom for impossible challenges because he also has unlimited power over those situations.
Verse 21 says, “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings.” These two powerful divine actions noted by Daniel were not random. They both pertain to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation. God was revealing to the king how he would work in the future to change kings, kingdoms, and governments, raising them up for a season and then removing them from the world scene. The dream revealed God as the sovereign Lord of history past, present, and future.
So when God gives you wisdom about an impossible thing, he is not at the mercy of someone else’s control, such that the wisdom might not work because someone else more powerful than he is might do something unforeseen. When you pray for wisdom from the revealer of mysteries, you are praying to a God bigger and more powerful than you can comprehend—a sovereign God.
3. He is often willing to share his wisdom and knowledge with us.
Verse 21 says, “He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”
He gives it, and in fact he is the source of all wisdom and knowledge. No one has come to understand how to do anything or solve any problem apart from God. People do their part to think, study, research, and so on, but ultimately they are cooperating with God, and without him they would know nothing.
God delights to give the world wisdom, but he also chooses to maintain many mysteries at least until an appointed time.
Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”
Because God keeps secrets, humanity has not yet found the cure for cancer. But that does not mean we will never find the cure. We may wrongly assume that present mysteries are permanent mysteries, that God cannot or will not reveal the answer to them.
But God has revealed the cure for many diseases and will reveal many more, in his time, in his way, according to his will. For many impossible situations, the wisdom we seek is like diamonds buried in the earth, just waiting for someone to dig. For other situations, God may never reveal his secrets, for reasons of course that are always perfect and good.
However, as Daniel experienced on that dangerous night in a divine vision, God is often willing to share his wisdom and knowledge with us for solving great mysteries, and we should pray, believe, and assume he wants to do this for whatever inquiry we bring to him, for it is his nature—his pleasure—to give wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
4. God reveals the deepest of deep things.
“He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” (v. 22)
Daniel knew that what he had just experienced was extraordinarily extraordinary. It was like going down, down, down into a cave without a torch or any source of light. He had gone where it was humanly impossible to go. He had been in pitch darkness, unable to see or know anything, and suddenly God had turned on his light.
He learned firsthand that God “reveals deep and hidden things.” Deep. Hidden. He reveals things that a brilliant person with an IQ of 250 and a thousand PhD degrees could not know.
So do not be daunted by the size of your challenge. God knows everything that to you is now in pitch darkness. The light that enables him to penetrate such darkness dwells with him. He created the blazing sun and carries it into whatever dark mystery he wants to enter.
5. When God gives you his wisdom, he gives you his might.
“You have given me wisdom and might” (v. 23).
In verse 20, Daniel praised God for his wisdom and might, and now he says that God had given him wisdom and might. Though we are utterly powerless in our human selves, the wisdom that comes from God makes us powerful for God’s purposes and glory. When Daniel went into mighty King Nebuchadnezzar’s throne room and unveiled the mystery, the mightiest man in the room was not the king—it was Daniel.
And the king knew it. “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel” (2:46).
6. To God be the glory.
Daniel 2:46 also says Nebuchadnezzar “commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him [Daniel].” The overwhelmed king treated him like a god. When God gives you extraordinary wisdom, some people will want to give you credit, and your flesh will want to join in that falsehood.
But when God revealed the mystery to Daniel in the vision of the night, Daniel prayed, “To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise” (v. 23). Although wisdom gives might, we must be careful not to seek it for our own glory and power, similar to how Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with a wrong motivation. Daniel sought and gave the glory to God alone, and the entire Book of Daniel never speaks of his falling into the sin of pride.
When you pray for wisdom from the revealer of mysteries, be careful to maintain a pure heart of humility, for God opposes the proud and self-ambitious but gives grace to the humble.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
When you understand that you pray for wisdom from the Creator of your mind, your faith increases.
The large and exciting subject of this post is God’s power over the human mind. It will increase your faith and enlarge your boundaries as you pray for wisdom. Let’s begin with Solomon, of whom 1 Kings 4:29–34 says:
“God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.” (ESV)
Solomon became a human encyclopedia, a breathing Google search, a one-man TED Talk, with “breadth of mind” before there were encyclopedias, and he came into this vast wisdom through personal inquiry, as Ecclesiastes reveals. But fundamentally he came into this wisdom because God first gave him the ability to perceive and accumulate, to organize and understand, wisdom.
Verse 29 says it with delightful simplicity: “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding.” Similarly 1 Kings 10:24 says, “The whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.”
Pray for wisdom from the Creator of your mind
God can put wisdom into your mind any time he wants because he created and sustains your mind. He perfectly understands the mystery of human consciousness, for he created it. He understands the division of soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12), the interplay of material and immaterial that occurs between the cells of the human brain and the human spirit, for he is sovereign over it. God understands the miracle of how one human soul integrates emotions, will, memory, imagination, motivation, insight, perception.
But as usual, the Bible describes this miracle in a simple way: “God put wisdom into his mind.”
The mind of every creature
God does not do that for every creature. The Bible says some startling things about God’s sovereignty over even the minds of animals and insects.
Consider the mind of an ostrich. Job 39:13–17 says, “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.”
Why do ostriches deal foolishly with their eggs and young? “Because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.” God rules over the mind of an ostrich. For whatever wise reason and for the display of his glory, God chose not to give this bird wisdom about taking care of her eggs.
On the other hand, the Bible says even a creature as small as an ant can have wisdom. “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” (Proverbs 6:6).
Not only ants, but other small creatures have wisdom commended by God himself: “Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs; the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.” (Proverbs 30:24–28).
Where did these small creatures get their wisdom? From their Creator and Sustainer, of course, “from whom and through whom and to whom are all things” (Romans 11:36).
God controls the minds of trillions of bugs! God ultimately, not DNA or any material source, puts specific wisdom about storing food, choosing a home, and marching in ranks into trillions of ants, rock badgers, locusts, and lizards if for no other reason than because he wanted to use them as an example in his eternal written Word.
The mind of rulers
If he can control the minds of birds and bugs, he can do the same with humans.
For instance, God once turned a man’s human mind into the mind of an animal. God pronounced a temporary judgment on proud King Nebuchadnezzar of mighty Babylon:
“Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him.” (Daniel 4:15–16)
And so it happened. Yet at the end of God’s determined time of judgment, Nebuchadnezzar suddenly regained his wits. He himself described the experience this way: “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:34)
As unexplainable as it was when his human reason left him, so was its return. God Almighty rules over human reason and wisdom.
The ground of your mind
This means that when you pray for God to give you wisdom, you are not asking him to do some extraordinary thing that rarely if ever happens. He has been doing this your whole life. That you have a sound mind at all, that you have the ability to reason, is an ongoing gift of God’s grace. You have the ability to read and understand this article because God is personally, deliberately, at this very moment, sustaining your mind.
When God declared his glory to Job, he asked the rhetorical question, “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?” (Job 38:36)
Proverbs 2:6 says, “The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
David wrote, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart” (Psalms 51:6).
The Bible teaches that wisdom is something God can release within, without external inputs if he chooses. God is able to shine the light of understanding within the human spirit. “Wisdom will enter your heart” (Proverbs 2:10, NIV).
The wisdom of craftsmen
Let’s look at one last inspiring example. When God formed the nation of Israel by delivering them from bondage in Egypt, he intended to live among them in a special tent called the Tabernacle. It would contain many articles of worship, such as a bronze altar of sacrifice, golden tables for burning incense and offering bread, basins for washing, a golden candlestick, the Ark of the Covenant. The priests who officiated in the Tabernacle were to wear elaborate, holy uniforms.
To craft this enormous number of religious articles, did God tell Moses to conduct a talent search to find the most skilled craftsmen in the camp? No, God specifically prepared two men to lead the project, along with a team of other craftsmen to assist them:
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you” (Exodus 31:1–6)
Exodus 36:1–2 says, “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the LORD has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded.” And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.”
Pray for wisdom from the Creator of your mind for everything that matters to you
Therefore, whether it is wisdom to create a Tabernacle in the desert, to raise a family, to have a peaceful and satisfying relationship with your spouse, colleagues, or friends, to succeed in your career, to manage your finances, or whatever it is that matters to you, the God of all wisdom can give it to you. He is the Creator and Sustainer of your mind. He is able to fulfill the promise of James 1:5 in you: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
And most importantly, as he does this in you, you will come to know him and his ways better. For this is one of God’s ways: he gives wisdom to those who ask him.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
