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