"Prepare plans by consultation,
and make war by wise guidance"
Proverbs 20:19
Have you met anyone who is a fool recently? Have you been the fool? I know that much of my life, I have been a fool. All to often I have had to learn the hard way (by personal painful experience). How about you?
How do we gain wisdom? If we listen, I think life does a really good job of teaching us. Yet, I know many folks who lack self-awareness and live a life lacking any reflective ability. These folks have many teachable moments and events that pass them by like a speeding car because they do not have eyes to see or ears to hear God trying to break into their life!
The Lord desires to give us wisdom. How do we get this wisdom? We must learn how to hear the voice of God.
How do we do hear God's often still small voice?
First and foremost, we need to saturate our life in the Word of God and prayer. The Word of God is His revealed will for us. It contains His perfect guidance on life and practice in this world. If we do not know it, we will often stumble through life like blind men without any guidance.
Notice I added prayer as part of the first step to gaining wisdom. Why? Prayer is a learned discipline. It is learning how to communicate with God. Notice I said communicate! It is not just us bringing a laundry list of requests. It is also listening. How do we do this? I find it is best to talk with God with His Word open in my lap so as I read, God can impress upon my spirit what I need to know or remember.
How does this work? Well, sometimes I am dealing with a particular issue- let's say someone who is hard to deal with. Let's say they were just plain ornery to me! I cannot understand why they are difficult. As I am praying about the situation and reading in the Psalms, I will run into a passage on the "wrath of my enemies." It is like a light coming on! The Lord impresses upon my spirit that this person is angry. I pray for them. As I pray the Lord guides me to pray for their work situation. As I talk with the person over the next few weeks, I ask, "How's it going at work?" They tell me about the unfair treatment they are receiving from their boss. See, the issue wasn't that they were mad at me. They were struggling. If I had not taken time to pray about it with the Word of God open, I might have handled it in a totally different manner!
It seems to me that we rarely have the same situation twice. Yet, we have God's principles and Word that are eternal. Taking what we know, or what we should know, and applying it is the heart of wisdom.
What happens when we mess things us? Please understand that such times need to be times of learning, not times to merely beat ourselves up for being stupid! Repent, talk with God about with the scriptures open, reflect on what went wrong, and ask for wisdom on living the truth better next time. There is also no reason to hide from God or to think we need to do some form of "penance" before we can be right with God again. Repent quickly, believe the gospel, and move on!
A second way to gain wisdom is to find wise people to ask for advice. In fact, I often hear the voice of the Lord through the mouthpiece of others. Sometimes, God's wisdom even comes from and through those who are not so wise!
How? What I do is try to listen. Boy is this hard for those of us who like to talk. It has taken years for me to learn how to do this. As I listen, I pray for wisdom and the person I am listening to. I often find that people will say something that brings to mind my thoughts from earlier in the day or week. They might clarify what I was reading and thinking about from God's word. Yet, when I hear it, I just seem to know it is the Spirit of God speaking through these folks.
One word of caution, though I could give many. All to often, listening to wise people is a step which we in the West have particular struggles. We are so individualistic that we shy away from asking for advice, particularly from people that are wise! Even if we get it, some of us are so prideful that we will not take it because we did not come up with it ourselves. In the past few years, I have heard this reasoning more times than I care to mention. Remember, if the Lord can speak through a donkey, He can use anyone to speak His will! (Numbers 22:28)
We need to know that God has granted some people a special degree of wisdom. They can cut to the heart of the matter and help us see what we need to do. As individuals and churches, we need to locate and encourage these people for leadership! We should search them out and inquire of their opinions. Make sure they can explain what they are advising as coming from Biblical principles. Then listen and try to implement what they recommend. If we do, even the unreflective among us can walk in wisdom (if we will just listen!).
May the Lord help us to grow in grace and wisdom as we start a new week!
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