Day 17: The Promise of Wisdom

In the Old Testament, under a leader named Joshua, God led His people into a promised land; but in the New Testament, under a leader named Jesus (and it's the same name in Hebrew), God leads His people into a land of promises. However, it took Joshua a long while to claim the whole inheritance that God had provided. Halfway through the book of Joshua, after Israel had gained many victories and much territory, God still said to them, "very much of the land remains to be possessed" (Joshua 13:1 NASB). The same is true for us as Christians. In the New Testament, very much of the land remains to be possessed. We have entered into only a small part of the provision that God has made for us in His promises.

We are now going to continue our exploration of this rich and wonderful land that God has provided for us through faith in Jesus Christ, our heavenly Joshua; that is, the land of God's promises.

The particular kind of promises that we will now begin to look at are those related to various forms of practical wisdom. Let me add that all the wisdom unfolded in the Bible is always practical. I have discovered in my long walk with the Lord that He is a very practical God, and anything that is truly spiritual is also extremely practical. We sometimes talk of people who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use. But such people are not truly spiritual. People who are truly led by the Holy Spirit are always very practical people. In connection with wisdom, the first promise that we look at is found in James 1:5-8:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." (NIV)

There is a very clear promise of wisdom to any of us in any situation where we see we need it: "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault". God doesn't find fault with us because we lack wisdom; He already knows we lack wisdom, and He is willing to supply that lack, so He doesn't find fault. And James says, "it will be given to him"; that is, wisdom will be given to the one who asks for it. One main reason why we don't have the wisdom that we need is, first of all, that we don't see our need of it. We don't acknowledge that we lack wisdom. We trust in ourselves and our own understanding, and that leads to disaster. Or sometimes we see that we lack wisdom, but we don't think to ask God for it.