Godly Wisdom

“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. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”

James 1:5-8

I am sure many things come to mind when you read this passage and think about wisdom. I would like to share with you five things that come to mind as I meditated on this passage.
 
1. We all lack wisdom. This ought to be self-evidently true. The fact is, we are not inherently wise. We tend to think selfishly and sinfully. We put our own best interest ahead of the interests of others. We also do not have the insight or discernment to know what is best to do. Wisdom is not just getting out of a situation, but it is knowing the best way to navigate through a situation in a way that glorifies God and demonstrates the gospel.
 
2. Scripture and wisdom are the primary ways to discern God’s will. People often look for intuitive direction directly from God through prayer apart from Scripture. God can do anything, and we see that he has done that on rare occasion in the past, however, this is not God’s normal operating procedure. God’s way is WORD and SPIRIT together. God’s “word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) He has given us the book of Proverbs and the book of James to highlight the necessity and importance of wisdom. Godly wisdom is applying God’s word directed by his Spirit to the particular situations in your life.
 
3. Wisdom is different than knowledge or information. There have been some incredibly intelligent people who have made some unbelievably stupid choices. I am sure we can all think of people, public figures or personal friends, who have made a shipwreck of their life choosing something that is downright foolish. You can gain a lot of information and knowledge from books, but you cannot gain godly wisdom. This kind of wisdom only comes from the Lord. I have also met many people who do not have book knowledge or formal education, but are some of the wisest people I have ever met.
 
4. Godly wisdom is different than worldly wisdom. Later James will contrast worldly wisdom with godly wisdom. He says worldly wisdom is unspiritual and demonic. Godly wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere. (James 3:13-18) Something may seem wise in the eyes of the world but completely contradict God’s word. Conversely, godly wisdom can seem like foolishness to the world. (Just give a speech on biblical marriage, family, and genders and find out how different it is!)
 
5. Godly wisdom comes through prayer when asked with genuine faith. First notice, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God.” We should not assume we automatically will have wisdom if we do not ask. Later James will say, “you do not have, because you do not ask.” (James 4:2) But James tells us that we also need to ask with genuine faith. We must believe that God is and that he is the giver of all good things. We must believe that he desires to give us wisdom and he will give to those who ask. We must not doubt or think we are just asking to hedge our bets. Wisdom comes to those who ask in humble faith with reliance upon the Holy Spirit.