Paths to God’s Wisdom
Life is so full of challenges and difficulties, but also many opportunities. How do we make our way through this world and choose the best path with all of the perils and obstacles in our way? God has given us intelligence to solve problems and find answers to our questions. But we need more than intelligence to succeed, flourish, and to live a safe and fruitful life that pleases God. For those, we need wisdom. So, what is wisdom and how do we acquire it? What are the paths we can take to find wisdom?
What is wisdom?
Wisdom is taking knowledge and applying it to real life. Knowledge becomes wisdom when it’s effectively applied and utilized in our lives. It doesn’t just stay in our minds—it affects the way we live, what we value, and how we spend our time. Wisdom expresses itself as understanding, insight, discernment, common sense, and good judgment.
Wisdom is especially important in relationships: how we relate to family, neighbors, our enemies, and to God. It’s what leads us to see the importance of spending time with family and friends, to love and value others, to take the right path in life, to reject evil, or to serve God.
The value of wisdom
Wisdom is much more valuable than knowledge and Scripture declares that we should stop at nothing to obtain it. King Solomon wrote:
Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)
Wisdom doesn’t necessarily guarantee continual and endless happiness, but it brings blessing and gives a great return:
For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. (Proverbs 9:11)
Do you consistently have difficulties in your work, career, or relationships? Do you feel like you’re failing in life? It may be because of bad decisions you have made. But consider that in the midst of problems and difficulties, we often don’t need more information, and we usually don’t need more intelligence. We just need to use the intelligence God has given us to acquire wisdom. It takes time and effort, but God has provided paths to wisdom, and we can find it if we follow these paths.
Paths to true wisdom
So, what are the paths to wisdom? Scripture gives us solid answers.
Fear of God
The first is fear of God.
“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)
Fear here means a healthy respect for and devotion to God, who is the source of all wisdom. Fear of the Lord is the main part of wisdom, and it provides a good framework for understanding and good judgment in all areas of life. By submitting to God, you will learn his wisdom concerning true purpose and meaning, and what’s really important in life. This will open up a whole new world of knowledge that you never knew existed, including a relationship with your Creator. And when we fear God, we will then fear other people and their opinions of us less. But this is only the beginning of wisdom. There’s much more still.
Personal response: If you have never submitted yourself to the Lord and his authority, do that first before you embark on a search for answers to your problems. This alone will provide you with what you need most: real purpose in life.
Ask and you will receive
After submitting to God, then ask him for the wisdom you need.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (James 1:5)
God is good, and he’s more than willing to provide wisdom if we desire it. He’s always delighted that people want to understand his ways and find the best way to work and live. He’s pleased to help you solve your most difficult problems.
The story of King Solomon illustrates this. God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told him to ask for whatever he desired (1 Kings 3:5). Solomon’s answer was to ask for “a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong” (1 Kings 3:8-9). He could have asked for riches and power. But instead, what he wanted from God was wisdom to rule and give justice to the people. The Lord was pleased with his request and said to him,
“Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. (1 Kings 3: 11-12)
Personal response: Instead of just asking God to fix all your problems like we often do, ask him to give you wisdom to help you solve your problems and make good decisions, like Solomon did.
Love for what is true
People naturally seek out what they love. When we value what is true and noble, our perspective is much closer to reality. And a love for the truth will guide us toward it. Those who seek it will find it, according to Jesus’ promise in Matthew 7:7.
Personal response: To discover God’s truth, start with the Bible. And there’s a whole book of the Bible dedicated to wisdom: Proverbs. Make it your goal to spend consistent time reading and studying God’s words every day.
Heavenly wisdom
After knowing what God’s paths to wisdom are, we should then ask: what will wisdom look like when we find it? What are its characteristics? The book of James tells us. While worldly wisdom is characterized by envy and selfish ambition (James 3:14-16), God’s heavenly wisdom is pure and brings blessing. It provides the pathway to a contented and fruitful life that pleases him.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17)
From these qualities, we should be able to recognize heavenly wisdom. Let’s look at each of them separately.
God’s wisdom is pure
God’s wisdom is demonstrated by a pure and godly life. A wise person will avoid temptations and maintain a pure heart to ensure their steps are pleasing to God. Solomon wrote:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:23-27)
Personal response: Take an inventory of where you might be failing in this area and resolve to make changes.
God’s wisdom is peace-loving and considerate
God’s wisdom is not intentionally confrontational. A considerate person gives preference to others when expressing their views. In our discussions, our treatment of others will be considerate and kind, acknowledging others’ desire to speak, even if what they are saying is false. Wisdom will guide our behavior and speech with people we disagree with, whether in personal relationships, work-related issues, politics, or theology.
Personal response: Don’t argue with people on every point you disagree with. Look for ways to affirm others and find common ground with them.
God’s wisdom is submissive
Submissive in James 3:17 means humble and teachable. A humble person is not argumentative, overconfident, prideful, or elitist. They are teachable and able to learn from others.
Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning. (Proverbs 9:8-9)
Through humility our knowledge is more easily transformed into wisdom. And when we can admit that we don’t know as much as we think, we will grow in understanding. But pride and arrogance impede our progress and limit our understanding, especially understanding other people’s views.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (Proverbs 11:12)
A wise person will also be able to admit when they are wrong. They will readily admit their errors and apologize for their mistakes. This is important because it allows them to put their errors in the past and move forward. They will be open to other possibilities and new and better ideas.
Of course, we can’t listen to everything everyone says. We should select godly people who have a reputation for wisdom to listen to and receive from. And we need to respect the advice of older people who have more experience and wisdom, regardless of how old we are. And of course, this includes our parents.
Personal response: Listen to those you disagree with and learn what you can from them. Find a godly person you respect to mentor you.
God’s wisdom is full of mercy and good fruit
God’s wisdom is demonstrated by a heart of mercy. And it produces good fruit or visible results. It’s not just theoretical or academic but brings blessing to others and it benefits them.
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. (James 3:13)
Personal response: Don’t consistently blame other people for your problems. Give people some space and the benefit of the doubt when there’s a conflict or disagreement.
God’s wisdom is impartial
Godly wisdom is impartial, because God is impartial. God’s principles and commands are the same for all, regardless of status, race, nationality, or gender.
But humans are by nature biased. We can bring very strong feelings into a discussion based on our own limited experience and knowledge. And strong feelings lead to exaggeration and conflict. Bringing a personal bent into an inquiry or problem solving usually hinders the free flow of ideas and biases the outcome. And bias always poisons the search for the truth. The outcome and conclusions become questionable, and our time may be wasted.
Personal response: Resolve to stop using exaggeration in conflicts and serious discussions and commit to treating people and their ideas impartially.
God’s wisdom is sincere
Spiritual wisdom is sincere. This means it’s free of duplicity, deceit, and ulterior motives.
Personal motives can bias and misguide the search for answers. A person who seeks after wisdom needs to be sincere in their pursuit of it, for the sake of true understanding and not just for selfish gain.
Personal response: Spend time in prayer, asking God to show you any bias, deceit, or selfish motives you might have.
Paths to Practical Wisdom
Practical wisdom deals with the things of this world: how to manage and improve our finances, career, business, resources, or society at large.
There are three general levels of inquiry: information, knowledge, and wisdom. Information is just raw data. We can find it in websites, podcasts, books, or personal observations and measurements. But information from any source needs to be vetted and verified to determine if it’s reliable or valid. Once we have verified the raw data or information, we now have knowledge.
But many people mistake knowledge for wisdom. Knowledge by itself is not wisdom—it’s only what we know to be true. Wisdom is understanding and insight that allows us to apply knowledge and make good decisions. There are many smart people in the world who have a lot of knowledge but no wisdom. They still make poor decisions because they lack discernment and common sense.
Here are some basic principles and paths to practical wisdom:
Experience
Practical wisdom is ultimately gained by real life experiences and situations through which we learn and gain expertise. Experience cements in our minds the important lessons we learn when we fail and when we succeed. Applying that knowledge, we become more useful and successful as students, spouses, employees, employers, and leaders. And as we all know, gaining experience at lower-level jobs allows us to advance in our career.
Many older people can be very good sources of knowledge and understanding—they have lived longer and experienced more. You might call experience “hard-earned wisdom,” gained by trial-and-error and by going through life’s problems and difficulties. And there’s no substitute for it.
Personal response: Ask God to give you opportunities to gain the experience you need to succeed in life and then take them when they come.
Diligence, persistence
Wisdom teaches us diligence to not give up in our search for success or for an answer. We rarely succeed the first time. And we rarely find an answer all at once—sometimes it takes persistence to find it. The most successful people are those who diligently pursue their goals without giving up.
Discernment in choosing sources
We all know that not all sources of information are reliable. We need to take time to exercise discernment to avoid biased or unreliable sources for what we read and hear.
Someone may ask: “Doesn’t the internet or Artificial Intelligence (AI) sort out unreliable information for us?” While these sources do collect and prioritize information, they should still be seen as fallible, and everything from them must still be vetted. AI may give you good information, but not necessarily godly wisdom. God has given each of us the responsibility of making wise decisions for everything we do. Whether with relationships or work, we will be held accountable for those decisions, not the internet.
Consulting multiple sources
Wisdom instructs us to not rely exclusively on one or two sources of information. We need to access a broader array of sources to avoid becoming entrenched in our thinking. The more sources we inquire, the more likely we will come to a reasonable conclusion. With complex or difficult problems, we especially shouldn’t accept advice only from one small group of friends, however well-intentioned their advice.
Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22)
Patience
Wisdom exhorts us to be patient and slow to form a judgment. We need to be able to defer judgment to the future, especially with important issues. And this requires time.
We should never insist that we have the answer we want right now. That’s because we may not have all the needed information and it may take time to obtain it. It’s possible we will never obtain it, and we should always be humble enough to admit that possibility.
The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. (Proverbs 21:5)
I can say without exception that the worst decisions I have made in life were when I was in a hurry and took short cuts.
Ability to sort and separate
In everything we read, listen to, or consume, we should be able to prioritize ideas that are important, and exclude those of little value. Obviously, we should accept and affirm the good and true but reject the false. However, we need to realize that a statement, concept, book, or any source may contain both truth and falsehood, and we need to apply wisdom to separate them.
In tackling complex problems, we first need to identify all the factors that affect the issue. Then we should focus on those components we can actually change and set aside those we can’t.
Ability to determine degree
In an inquiry or conflict, we may identify a valid issue or factor. But we need wisdom to determine the degree to which that factor is important. Is its impact great or small? Is it even relevant at all? In solving problems, overstating the impact of something or obsessing over one issue is usually counterproductive.
Exaggeration is always the enemy of fairness. For example, exaggerating the needs of one group of people over those of another in providing assistance will deprive the other group of help they may need.
To determine degree, ask questions such as: how much is involved, how great is the effect, or how many are affected, who or what is most affected, and how important is this.
Taking our God-given opportunities
God has given humans free will and intelligence to seek the truth and to learn, explore, and acquire wisdom. And he holds us accountable for our decisions and the directions we take in life. What we need to succeed is available to us—God has provided clearly marked paths to find true wisdom.
Jesus and James both promised if you ask God for wisdom, he will grant it. So, take the opportunities that are before you. God’s wisdom is there for you to discover and apply to your life. The benefits you reap will not only be practical but eternal.
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)
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