Wise Up! Part 3: Where Do I Go Looking for Wisdom?

In this brief series on wisdom—which was rudely interrupted after N.T. Wright made some regrettable comments about abortion—we’ve seen that the concept of wisdom in the Bible uses a number of synonyms to give us a multi-faceted look at what it means to live wisely. We then saw the difference between wisdom as God sees it and wisdom as the world sees it. But now we need to get practical. Now that we’ve properly set the table, we can ask the question that everyone has likely been asking from the beginning: “How can I become wise?”

As I see it, there are several ways that Scripture shows us we can get wisdom. We’ll overview these briefly and then talk about each one individually. First, and perhaps most obviously, we get wisdom from Scripture. Second—and again, pretty obvious especially if you’ve read James 1—we get wisdom from prayer. Third, we get wisdom from other people. All three of these are necessary if we want to become wise, so we’ll look at each one individually.

We Get Wisdom from God’s Word

Proverbs 2:1–5 describes the search for wisdom like an epic treasure hunt. Not the kind where you buy a metal detector and walk around the beach looking for spare change and maybe, if you’re really lucky, a lost engagement ring. No, it describes the kind of search where you sell everything you have, put together a team, and go off in search of a once-in-a-lifetime treasure that is guaranteed to make you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. Listen to the opening words of this chapter:

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words,
And hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,
And apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,
And liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver,
And searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD,
And find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1–5)

In other words, wisdom only comes to those who go looking for it—and go looking for it with all they have. But where do we go digging? How do we incline our ear and apply our heart? What does the actual work of looking for wisdom look like? It looks like digging in God’s Word. The very next verse in this passage makes this clear:

6 For the LORD giveth wisdom:
Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)

This makes perfect sense. If we want to be wise, we want to listen to the One who is all-wise. Where can we go to listen to Him? In His holy Word. So we listen to God’s Word—not just passively, but actively and aggressively—so that we can learn what it means to be wise.

It’s no wonder, then, that Scripture teaches us that God’s law makes simple people wise (Psalm 19:7), or that by keeping God’s commands we will be wise and understanding before all (Deuteronomy 4:6), or that the Scripture can make us wise to salvation (2 Timothy 3:15). If we want to be wise, it begins by studying God’s Word.

We Get Wisdom by Asking God for Wisdom

God came to Solomon in a dream at night and gave him a pretty incredible offer: “Ask for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you” (1 Kings 3:5). Of course, this would have been quite the tempting offer for a young king with some big shoes to fill. Military might, wealth, diplomatic prowess—there were lots of things that young Solomon could have asked for. What one thing did he ask for? Well, you probably know the answer: he asked for wisdom (1 Kings 3:6–9).

That’s a nice story, but I’ve never had God show up and offer me a blank check—and I’m guessing you haven’t either. But did you realize that you have been offered a blank check when it comes to wisdom? The very thing that Solomon asked for—the very request that so pleased God—is the same thing God now invites every single one of us to ask for. I don’t know this for a fact, but I can’t help but wonder if James was thinking of Solomon when he wrote:

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)

Now, James will go on to carefully qualify this blank check. He makes clear that God is looking for people who are committed in prayer, not double-minded. God is looking for people who ask with faith—both in the way they pray and in the way they live. We could probably also add that such people are doing the other things God has said, such as seeking wisdom in Scripture and asking the counsel of others.

But we don’t want to be so careful to qualify this passage that we qualify it to death. God will give wisdom to anyone who asks in faith. That includes the wisest king who ever lived—and it includes you and me as well.

We Get Wisdom by Seeking Counsel from Others

Finally, we get wisdom from talking to others. Proverbs is clear that we will follow whomever we surround ourselves with. If we surround ourselves with fools or angry people, we will become like them (Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 14:7; 22:24–25; 1 Corinthians 15:33). If we surround ourselves with wise people—and if we listen to them—we will become like them (Proverbs 13:20; 15:22; 27:17).

Those who have been seeking wisdom by studying God’s Word and sincerely praying to God should take advantage of others who are also studying and praying. The more wise people you hang out with and listen to, the more you will become wise.

I have slowly come to realize that some of the wisest people I know are constantly looking to others for wisdom. I’ll be honest: that surprised me at first. But it shouldn’t have. After all, by definition, wise people do wise things—and looking to others for wisdom is a wise thing.

The truth is, we all go looking for advice. Often we look to people we know really well, or sometimes we look to people we think will tell us what we want to hear. The classic example of this is the teenager asking his buddy for relationship advice. Rather than ask someone successfully married with a happy family, he gets life advice from another teenager just as single and confused as he is. His friend might give advice confidently, but is it good advice? No one knows (though it seems a little unlikely).

Yet as much as we might like to point the finger and laugh at the absurdity, do we do better? Do we go to people we like—or people who think like us—with our problems? Or do we seek out wise, biblical counselors? Scripture warns us that we will become like those to whom we listen. So whom are you listening to?

If you find yourself at a crossroad—not sure what the next step should be but sincerely wanting to get God’s perspective—let me encourage you to get wisdom. And get it by following the pathways laid out for us in God’s Word: seek wisdom by studying God’s Scripture, by praying and asking God for wisdom, and by looking to other godly counselors.

But there is one more element of biblical wisdom we’ll want to get down to complete this brief overview of the Bible’s understanding of wisdom. You see, not only do we need to go digging in God’s Word, not only do we need to be in prayer and be seeking counsel from other wise people—we also need to walk in the Spirit. And we’ll get to that next week, assuming we don’t have any evangelical-adjacent scholars spouting immoral positions between now and then.

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Ben Hicks is the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis. You can check out Bible studies he has written as hearanddo.org. 

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Photo by Ali Kazal on Unsplash