Category: Praying for wisdom

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Pray for Wisdom Every Time

We should pray for wisdom every time because what we need even more than wisdom is to have God working with us.

pray for wisdom every time

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)

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Pray for Wisdom from the Revealer of Mysteries

No challenge is too great, no question too difficult, when you pray for wisdom from the revealer of mysteries.

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)

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Pray for Wisdom from the Creator of Your Mind

When you understand that you pray for wisdom from the Creator of your mind, your faith increases.

pray for wisdom from the creator of your mind

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)

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Pray for Wisdom and Think Diligently

God’s wisdom comes to those who pray for it and think diligently.

think diligently

We learn another important principle about praying for wisdom from the coaching that the apostle Paul gave to his protégé Timothy. In his second letter to Timothy, who is serving as pastor of the church in Ephesus, Paul wants Timothy to learn further wisdom about how to succeed in his work for the Lord.

Think

Paul begins by giving in rapid succession three brief analogies:

“No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

“An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

“It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.” (2 Timothy 2:4, 5, 6)

Paul does not explain the meaning of the analogies. Rather, in verse 7 he says, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

Think diligently

Notice that Paul is confident and full of faith that the Lord will give Timothy understanding—wisdom. But it will not come without work, without the hard work of thinking. “Think over what I say.” He requires that Timothy think diligently over these three analogies until they yield their wisdom.

We might call that process meditation or reflection, reasoning or analysis. Timothy might write as he thinks. He might share the fruit of his mental exercise with others as he works through it. But one thing is clear: this is not passive, but active. His mind is not in neutral. He is not waiting for God to drop a thought into his mind. Rather, he is asking questions of these analogies, visualizing them, attempting to distill from them the principles and application Paul intends.

And what Paul is confident of, probably because he is also praying that God will reveal to Timothy the understanding he needs, is that as Timothy thinks, wisdom will enter his heart (Proverbs 2:10). Timothy will probably not even recognize that God is the one causing the light bulb to come on; it will seem as though he suddenly came to understand it on his own; nevertheless God will be the one who enables Timothy’s mental work to yield the fruit of understanding.

This is one more example of the principle of human cooperation with God. An airplane has two wings; which wing enables it to fly?

When supernatural thoughts come naturally

There is another remarkable Scripture about God himself supernaturally giving wisdom to a person in a way that seems utterly natural. The subject of the passage in Isaiah is good farmers and how they get their skill. Like me, you are probably not a farmer, and so you will not readily grasp each of the points Isaiah makes about the practical rules of good farming, but that is not the point. Rather, notice to whom the prophet Isaiah gives credit for this farmer’s good understanding:

“Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him. Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.” (Isaiah 28:24–29)

What I find remarkable about this is the exalted credit Isaiah gives God for what seem like mundane principles of successful farming, principles that this wise farmer may have heard from his father when he was a boy, or principles that he learned from trial and error over several years. These were not things he heard from an angel, a dream, or vision. That is, these were not things he learned in ways that seemed like divine interventions.

Yet, according to Isaiah, the farmer “is rightly instructed; his God teaches him….This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.” The farmer is active, and God is active. The farmer thought about his farming, and wisdom entered his heart (Proverbs 2:10).

Trial and error. Learning from mistakes. Learning from success. Observing cause and effect. Having a teachable heart. Intentionally pursuing and writing down best practices. Remembering the advice of one’s elders. Thinking, reflection, meditation. When these things are mixed with prayer, faith, patience, and God’s promises, lo and behold—wisdom.

Think diligently with paper or pixels

Related to all the above, I have one practical suggestion. Keep a journal, digital or hard copy. Writing is just recording your thinking. Have a section for each subject or question. Write your questions and answers and everything in between. The more you write, the more you will understand. Writing helps you think far better, far wider, far deeper.

You might write in complete sentences or in bullet points. You might scatter words and phrases around on a page in a thought cloud or link them with lines in a thought tree. Do what works for you, but record your thoughts no matter how simple they seem, because there is something about writing thoughts that causes more thoughts to come. Writing turns an occasional drop of rain into a shower, and sometimes a lightning storm.

Now and then go back and read what you have written, organize the helpful thoughts, and develop conclusions. Thinking is an adventure into the unknown. It is messy and fun and satisfying. It is unpredictable.

And it takes work. “I [wisdom] love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Proverbs 8:17).

Paul was right, and this is the word of the Lord: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7).

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)

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Pray for Wisdom with Faith

We must pray for wisdom with faith because a double-minded person will not receive anything from the Lord. Here is how you can develop the necessary faith.

pray for wisdom with faith

The most encouraging verse in the Bible about praying for wisdom is James 1:5. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (ESV).

However, it is immediately followed by a warning that might make you lose heart. “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 1:6–8)

Knowing that an answer to prayer depends on your faith can make you lose faith! If everything depends on God, we can be confident because we know he is reliable. But if something depends on us, we can despair because we know how far short we fall of perfection, especially perfect faith. And we know how our emotions can ride a roller coaster.

There is no way around it, though. If you want to learn how to pray for wisdom for everything that matters to you, you must learn to pray with faith.

And you can do it.

You can pray for wisdom with faith

Again, you can do it. God will help you if you will enter the school of faith. Depending on how strong or weak your faith is now, it may take a while to learn to pray for wisdom with faith, but you can and will learn if you depend on God and persevere.

Praying for wisdom is an outstanding exercise for developing the muscle of faith. You build faith by using it, by going through the ups and downs of having faith for a request but then losing it—but not giving up. You again press in to God’s promises to regain faith. And you may go through that cycle many times, but if you do not quit, if you do not give up in despair, if you come back to your senses—to the bedrock reality that God is absolutely faithful—and keep choosing to believe God’s Word, you will find that the episodes of doubt come less often and are weaker and weaker.

Meanwhile your foundation of faith gets deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger, to the point where faith dominates your soul. And finally you come to the place where, changing the metaphor, all the oxygen for doubt is gone. Doubt suffocates and dies. And the only thing left standing and breathing is indomitable faith.

That is your future, my friend, if you will enter into the school of regularly praying for wisdom and staying at it until wisdom enters your heart (Proverbs 2:10).

Day one is decisive

Daniel 10:12 shows one key principle of faith. In previous posts in this series we saw that an angel appeared to Daniel, who for three weeks had been earnestly inquiring of God for wisdom. The angel said:

“Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12).

There is a crucial principle about how to pray for wisdom with faith: believe that the moment you pray God has heard you. Notice the past tense: “From the first day…your words have been heard.”

That is not unique to this verse in Daniel. In the New Testament God promises this to all Christians as we pray according to his will. First John 5:14–15 says, “This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” Again we see that the answer comes when we pray.

Jesus himself states this truth. “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). In the past tense you received it, and in the future tense it will be yours. So God has heard your request and determined to give you the wisdom you seek, but he may not do so immediately, or even soon. You have to keep faith that God has heard you for as long as he in his wisdom requires.

You can do it with his help. He will give you grace, for he delights in your faith.

Your words are decisive

I love the last few words from the angel in Daniel 10:12: “your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.”

Do you recognize the weight of your own words? Do you realize how much attention God pays to your words, how much spiritual glory and power they have? And do you appreciate how decisive your words are in God’s sight?

Granted, some teachers, both Christian and non-Christian, have taken this to an extreme, but do not overreact to unbiblical extremes to the point that you lose the reality clearly taught in Scripture. Words that accord with the will of God are the currency of his kingdom. Pray for wisdom with faith that your words are heard in heaven—and it is done (James 1:5–8).

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)

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Pray for Wisdom Without Presuming How God Will Answer

We should pray for wisdom without presumption about how God will answer, because he answers prayers in countless different ways and at times we do not expect.

pray for wisdom without presumption

If you are like me, you head into a time of asking God for wisdom with a hope about how and when he will answer. If I fast and pray and clear my calendar to do nothing but seek him with a listening ear, surely he will give me the wisdom I seek that day, hopefully within a few hours.

Moreover, my earnest hope is that I will “hear God.” That is, that words and thoughts will form in my mind with a clarity and emphasis that could suggest these thoughts are from God rather than me, giving the answer I seek. Or I will read the Bible and fall upon verses that leap off the page with exactly what I need to do. Or that day someone will say something to me that providentially, unknown to him, is “the word of the Lord.”

Disappointed

Expectations like these are why I am usually disappointed on the day I seek God earnestly for wisdom. I have heard plenty of stories by people who have such experiences, but they are rare for me, and strangely, seem more rare the older I get. I suggest you do not base your expectations on my experiences, but if you can identify with me, let them encourage you. If God does not give prompt, clear direction when you seek him for guidance and counsel, you are not unusual.

For this reason I strongly counsel you to pray for wisdom without trying to control how God answers. Have an open mind to how and when he will give the wisdom you seek. He almost certainly will not do as you expect, and he probably will answer every new request for wisdom differently than how he has answered previous inquiries. God likes variety.

You never know

For example, look in the Gospels at all the different ways Jesus healed people. He might lay his hand on the sick person, or merely speak a healing command, or spit on the ground to make mud and apply it to the blind eyes, or stick his fingers in deaf ears, or spit on his finger and touch a mute tongue, or healing virtue would flow to those who touched his cloak.

When we pray for wisdom, there are countless situations through which God can breathe the answer. A book. A conversation. A wise mentor. Your evaluation of recent efforts. A dream. Your analytical thinking or research. Prayer. Reading the Bible. A seminar, webinar, conference. Practice. Your gradual, one-percent improvement each time you do what you are trying to learn and seek to improve for the next time.

Or through an angel. Okay, that might not be the most likely answer, but that is how Daniel received his answer in Daniel 10. Again, you never know, and you probably cannot guess. God surprises us if we pray with faith and keep the faith for as long as necessary (James 1:5–8).

Keeping Faith

As I said in a previous post, I have been focused in prayer for over three years on getting wisdom for how to win converts and enfold them in our church. God has taught me much in that time, but I have not yet had the breakthrough insights I need.

Nevertheless, I know they are coming, for I believe. (James 1:5–8, Matthew 21:22, which literally reads, “All things whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”) Scripture calls Abraham the man of faith (Galatians 3:9, ESV), and he had to wait decades for some answers, and longer for others, even hundreds of years after he died.

Daniel had to wait three weeks for the wisdom he sought (Daniel 10:13). But the reason he had to wait was the angelic messenger bearing his answer faced satanic interference that delayed him. Otherwise Daniel would have had his answer promptly (Daniel 10:12). That tells me there are innumerable reasons unknown to us why an answer to our prayer can be delayed. And there are innumerable means God may use to give the answer. God sent an angel to Daniel, and he may send a human to give your answer. It could be anyone, communicating in any way, in-person or through any media.

Pray for Wisdom without Presumption

Therefore it is essential that you maintain your faith and keep seeking an answer (through prayer, research, practice, or however) for as long as necessary. Do not presume to require God to answer in a particular way.

Be open, flexible, persistent. Keep exploring, seeking.

And stay alert to what may be the divine answer you seek. In other words, if you are tending sheep in the desert and see a bush on fire that keeps burning and is not consumed, turn aside and pay attention (Exodus 3). Since I am seeking wisdom for effective evangelism, I should take notice if someone I know says out of the blue, “I just read a tremendous book on evangelism, and I am already seeing fruit from what I learned in it.”

Pray for wisdom without presumption about how God will answer. I am not disappointed when I pray for wisdom with faith and persistence and do not require that God answer me in extraordinary ways. His wisdom sooner or later enters my heart (Proverbs 2:10).

And remember, learning to pray for wisdom for everything that matters to you is an important way to know God practically, in daily experience, as someone you can rely on to help you. Knowing God and his ways is not just an intellectual experience; it is also a lived out experience of prayer, trust, and dependence. If we know how to explain God doctrinally but do not know how to depend on him for what we need in life, we are missing something important and wonderful.

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)

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Pray for Wisdom Earnestly

When you pray for wisdom earnestly, you signal to God that you mean business and you believe God is your true source.

pray for wisdom earnestly

In this post we continue to draw principles about praying for wisdom from Daniel 10 and James 1:5. The first principle was that we should set our heart to understand. The second principle was that we should humble ourselves before God. The third principle is that we should pray earnestly.

We need to pray

We need to actually pray. In a knowledge culture like ours, in which we have how-to videos on YouTube on every subject imaginable, as well as webinars, books, apps, freelance experts, and university courses in abundance, it is easy to focus our attention there first. We may not feel as though we need to ask God as though it all depends on him; we just need to research the subject. Research feels as though it gives quicker, clearer, more tangible results. We control the process. The steps toward our goal are clear before us: read this book, take that class, follow this formula.

Earnest prayer, on the other hand, can feel like an open-ended waste of time. We can feel as though we aren’t doing anything. And most of us would not say we get into a real dialogue with God in which he speaks unmistakably to us with the wisdom we seek, or as Daniel experienced, have an angel come and coach us. We present our request, and we wait. We conclude our praying often feeling no closer to an answer. There is much that is unknown, except by faith.

We need God more than wisdom

Nevertheless, as we pursue wisdom, we need to pray like we mean business. Prayer must be the foundation of our pursuit just as a well-built house must have a foundation. James 4:2 says, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

God does not appreciate being ignored. Everything, including wisdom, is “from him and through him and to him” (Romans 11:36). “The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6). Even if he uses a coach or a book as his means to impart crucial wisdom to us, our situation and who we are in our personality and abilities differ from the person from whom we are learning. Unless God blesses the wisdom, unless he reveals to us how to use it effectively, unless he works in the situation and people around us, the wisdom we learn from others will not get the results they had. We need God and his hand upon us, not merely wisdom.

And thus we need to pray to him. Earnest prayer signals to God that we truly believe we cannot do anything without him. We believe what Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

We need to pray for wisdom earnestly

Daniel’s example also shows the value of earnest prayer. Daniel said, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks” (Daniel 10:2–3).

We see Daniel’s earnestness in his partial fasting from certain foods and physical comforts and in the three-week duration of his focused seeking of God with his question.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (ESV). Other translations say, “he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (NIV) or “diligently seek him” (NKJV) or “sincerely seek him” (NLT).

We do not have to fast to receive wisdom from God, but it can only help. The greater is our need for wisdom, and the more difficult that wisdom has been to get, the more sense it makes to fast and wait on God for extended periods as we “set our hearts to understand” (Daniel 10:12) a question.

I do not enjoy fasting (taking no food and drinking only water), and I rarely do it for longer than 20 hours, but I love the results. It gives spiritual focus and clarity like nothing else. For me it is the ultimate way to set my heart to understand. Daniel shows that partial fasting is also an effective way to earnestly seek the Lord.

Fasting is not a silver bullet

I caution, though, against fasting with any thought that by it we can manipulate God. Fasting is not a hunger strike, nor can we use it to twist God’s arm. God answers prayer according to his will, in his time, in his way—even if we torture ourselves with fasting for years! The purpose of fasting is to humble yourself, focus your mind, clear your spirit, and to signal to God that you are serious, that you are seeking him with all your heart and soul about this matter.

Sometimes God is looking for that. Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

If you fast and pray for part or all of a day but do not receive the wisdom you seek during that time, you must not feel that “it didn’t work” or you wasted your time. Rather, that day laid the foundation for the answer, or added more floors to the foundation already laid. It is part of the process all of which God intends for your good. He has a reason for extending the process. He may be testing your faith.

Hebrews 10:35–36 says, “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”

Take it by faith that you have the answer (1 John 5:14–15) and that God’s wisdom will enter your heart (Proverbs 2:10) in his perfect timing.

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)

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Pray for Wisdom Humbly

There are many ways to pray for wisdom humbly.

pray for wisdom humbly

“Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12).

Last week we drew from the well of this Scripture the first principle of inquiring of God for wisdom: you must set your heart to understand.

Principle 2: Pray for wisdom humbly

The next principle in Daniel 10:12 of asking for wisdom is to humble yourself before your God, as the angel said Daniel had done. Humility is needed because James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Wisdom is a grace from God, and therefore we need humility to receive it.

Daniel humbled himself by fasting. Daniel 10:2–3 says, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.” He denied himself pleasure and comfort, and his purpose in this was to humble himself.

But humility is the point, not fasting. Fasting is good and helpful, but not without sincere humility as its motive and purpose.

That’s because a person can fast with pride and self-righteousness. Luke 18:9–14 says, “[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.’”

In this parable Jesus calls our attention to the importance of sincere humility and its effect. Although the Pharisee fasted, and prayed in the temple, he was arrogant. The tax collector was truly humble even though Jesus said nothing about whether he was fasting.

So the point is sincere humility. God exalts the humble. To them he gives grace.

Ways to humble yourself

Attitudes and actions commonly associated in the Bible with self-humbling include:

  • Confessing and repenting of sin. (James 4:6–10)
  • Kneeling and bowing before God. (Psalm 95:6–7)
  • Worshiping and thanking God. (Romans 11:33–36; 1 Corinthians 15:10)
  • Acknowledging need, inability, and dependence on God. (John 15:4–8)
  • Fasting. (Ezra 8:21; Daniel 10)
  • Serving others. (John 13:1–5; 12–17)
  • Considering others more significant. (Philippians 2:3–11)
  • Surrendering prerogatives and taking a low estate. (Philippians 2:5–8)
  • Obeying God’s commands. (John 15:5–10; Isaiah 58)
  • Being correctible and teachable. (Psalm 32:8–9; 81:10–12)
  • Submitting to others. (Ephesians 5:21)
  • Submitting to those in authority. (1 Peter 5:5)
  • Enduring suffering patiently. (1 Peter 5:6–10)

All the above are relevant as we seek to humble ourselves before God and receive from him the gracious gift of wisdom.

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)

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Pray for Wisdom with Determination

How the prophet Daniel prayed for wisdom

Prophet Daniel prayed for wisdom

To learn how to pray for wisdom we turn to an expert. The prophet Daniel had much experience in praying for wisdom as a powerful and successful government official for decades in the superpowers of Babylon and Persia. We look now at a story in Daniel 10 where he shows us the first principle of praying for wisdom successfully.

The chapter opens with Daniel earnestly seeking the Lord, but we are not told why. “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks” (Daniel 10:2–3).

(The first principle of praying for wisdom is not fasting. You can breathe a sigh of relief.)

For 21 days Daniel is not conducting a total fast but rather is denying himself certain comforts and pleasures. Then he has a vision. An angel appears to him, and he is physically and mentally overwhelmed. The angel says something to Daniel that provides a crucial principle for those seeking wisdom:

“Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12).

How the prophet Daniel prayed for wisdom

Note the angel’s words, “you set your heart to understand.” I regard that as the first principle of praying for wisdom successfully. For whatever wisdom you need, you must set your heart to understand.

This speaks of determination and persistence. Of setting a clear goal and having a specific focus. You know exactly what you want God to teach you, and you are doing all you can to learn.

For several years, as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ in downtown Chicago, I have been praying daily, “Lord, give me wisdom how to win converts and enfold them in our church as sincere disciples.” I have also been praying, “Give me wisdom how to inquire of you for wisdom successfully.” I am determined. I am working hard on this. I will not give up. With every passing month I am more focused. (I have made significant progress on both requests, and I think I am on the verge of a breakthrough.)

The size and scale of your request

Of course, our prayers for wisdom come in all sizes. We can pray for small or daily matters, and God answers our requests quickly. “Lord, give me wisdom for my conversation with my supervisor at work about how to improve morale on our team.” We pray, we enter the situation with faith, and behold we find that God works wonderful things. He answered our prayer.

But then there are other situations of greater scale, scope, or difficulty, which do not yield to one prayer for wisdom. These require greater determination, focus, and perseverance. You must “set your heart to understand.”

What you are praying for may involve a process, even a long process. For Daniel in this case it took three weeks for him to receive the wisdom he sought. He did not know why it took that long. It was not because of any fault on his part; in fact, the angel commends him as a “man greatly loved” by God (verse 11). It turns out that the delay resulted from a great, invisible conflict occurring behind the scenes in the spiritual world (verses 12–13, 20–21).

Patience

So “setting your heart to understand” means you are prepared to have patience. Without patience you will be disappointed in many requests, and perhaps even become disillusioned and fall into unbelief regarding the promise of James 1:5.

For example, the psalmist faulted the Israelites when they were in the desert, lacking food and water—and thus needing wisdom. He writes: “They soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert” (Psalm 106:13–14). (See Exodus chapters 15–17.)

The Israelites had a legitimate need for food and water, but they allowed their desire to become a “wanton craving,” that is, an excessive desire, an out-of-control desire, an all-consuming, impatient craving that demanded an immediate answer and tested God by attempting to force him to act as they wanted. This wanton craving was marked by unbelief and distrust toward God.

You must not do that when you pray for wisdom. You must be determined but patient. Be prepared: Some of your requests may not be answered for days, weeks, months, years, or even decades, as God in his wisdom works out what is best suited for your highest good and his greatest glory. As always when it comes to prayer, God answers in his time, in his way, according to his will.

Let’s continue next week looking at how the prophet Daniel prayed for wisdom.

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)

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Pray for Wisdom with Confidence

The Bible has dozens of verses that show God’s willingness to give wisdom.

God's willingness to give wisdom

This new series rests on the inviting promise of James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (ESV).

It sounds too good to be true. Does God really want me to pray and believe for wisdom about everything that matters to me? My answer is yes, God wants to give us wisdom and wants us to pray and believe for it. I say that for four reasons.

1. God faults those who fail to inquire of him as they make decisions and manage their lives.

Isaiah says, “Should not a people inquire of their God?” (Isaiah 8:19) The prophet was faulting those who consulted instead with mediums and necromancers.

Jeremiah, bluntly rebuking the leaders of Israel, says, “The shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered” (Jeremiah 10:21).

At one point in Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership, one of the nations of the land, called Gibeonites, who were under God’s decree of extermination for their wickedness, sought to deceive them. The Gibeonites sent to the army of Israel a delegation who acted as though they had traveled from a distant land to make a treaty with them. God had forbidden Israel from making treaties with the residents of the Promised Land, though they could do so with neighboring countries.

The ruse of the Gibeonites rested on their giving the appearance of having traveled a great distance. They “took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly.” (Joshua 9:4–5)

They rode into the camp of Israel and asked the leaders to make a covenant of peace. “We are your servants,” the Gibeonites meekly concluded.

But Joshua was suspicious. “Who are you? And where do you come from?” he asked.

They replied, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God…. Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.” So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD. And Joshua made peace with them.” (Joshua 9:9, 12–15)

Joshua’s decision was wrong—even though he was a godly man—because he and the leaders of Israel used their own judgment instead of inquiring of God.

In Jeremiah’s day, the false prophets did not consult the Lord. The Lord rebukes them, asking, “Who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?” (Jeremiah 23:18) The answer, of course, was none of them had sought God’s counsel. God’s question shows what he expected from a true prophet.

Psalm 106 tells the history of God’s merciful work among the Israelites and their many failures in response. The psalm reveals how Israel could act with unbelief toward God after he had showed his benevolence toward them by judging Egypt with great plagues and then bringing Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground: “They soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert” (Psalm 106:13–14).

Again and again in the desert, the Israelites made bad choices because they did not wait for God’s counsel but instead impulsively followed their own desires.

Isaiah 9:13–16 says, “The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the LORD of hosts. So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day.” The situation here is that God was punishing Israel with troubles for their stubborn, unrepentant sinfulness, but Israel never bothered to ask him why these troubles had come upon them.

So we see God’s willingness to give wisdom in how he paints in a negative light those who fail to ask for it. We also see that he wants to give us wisdom in his many invitations to seek it.

2. God gives many promises and examples that show his willingness to teach and counsel us.

Both the Old and New Testaments assure us of God’s pleasure in giving his children wisdom.

Psalm 16:7 says, “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.”

Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Psalm 73:24 says, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory”

Psalm 119:24 says, “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.”

Proverbs 2:6 says, “The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Proverbs 8:12, 17 says, “[12] I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion…. [17] I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.”

Isaiah 9:6 says, “To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 28:24–29 says, “[24] Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? [25] When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? [26] For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him. [27] Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. [28] Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. [29] This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.”

Isaiah 48:17 says, “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.’”

Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

Daniel 2:17–23 says, “Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 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; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. 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 2:28 says, “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.”

Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Matthew 23:10 says, “You have one instructor, the Christ.”

Philippians 3:15 says, “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.”

2 Timothy 2:7 says, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

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.”

1 John 2:27 says, “The anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

So we see God’s willingness to give wisdom in many promises and examples. We also see that he wants to give wisdom because he tells us to ask for it.

3. God tells us to pray for wisdom.

Having wisdom is not automatic or guaranteed to all. If we do not have it, that does not mean he does not want to give it to us. Rather, the Lord tells us wisdom comes to those who ask for it.

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.”

Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

Daniel 2:17–19 says, “Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.”

So we see God’s willingness to give wisdom in his instructions to pray.

4. God tells us not only to pray, but to believe for wisdom.

Prayer is necessary, but it is not enough. Our prayers must be mixed with faith that God will answer.

James 1:5–8 says, “[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] 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. [7] For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

We often need wisdom immediately, and God grants it. At other times, we may pray for weeks, months, or years for wisdom until it comes. We must have the faith to persist until our prayer is answered.

How do you build up the faith necessary? You memorize the Scriptures in this article and meditate on them, which will take months. I have done it, and so can you. To maintain them in your memory, you will periodically have to review and refresh them. That is good, because each time you say them, they build your faith.

Conclusion: Never doubt God’s willingness to give wisdom

God wants to give you the wisdom and understanding you need for your job, marriage, child-raising, finances, health, emotions, ministry, goals, trials, prayers, sanctification, and any other holy thing that matters to you, frustrates you, or eludes you. Most importantly, in the process you can learn to know God better.

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)