Praying for Wisdom

James 1:5

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him”. (NKJV)

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking” (NLT)

How many of us would love to be wise? I definitely do. Wisdom is not only having knowledge, but is applying God’s knowledge and sharing it with others. Being a wise man who follows God is something we all want to strive for and it is so easy to get. All we need to do is “ask our generous God, and He will give it to” us. It is so simple, yet many of us don’t ask for His wisdom. I have had many times of struggle and hardships where I have needed to ask for God’s wisdom; but I didn’t ask for it. When I have trials come my way, I turn to my own corrupted wisdom instead of God’s pure wisdom. My wisdom and knowledge may seem to be the solution and may seem to solve the problem, but it really doesn’t. We know that, although it may have seemed to work, it wasn’t God’s outcome.

How come I don’t turn to God’s wisdom when I know it is readily available? I believe that the two main reasons are because of pride and rebellion. If we have pride than we believe we don’t need God, and if we have rebellion than we know we need God but purposefully don’t turn to Him.

Many of us have prayed for wisdom and haven’t received it. When this has happened to me I have doubted or questioned God. If we have faith in God than the answer is simple; it is because we don’t need it. We are filled with the Holy Spirit when we accept God and, most of the time, don’t need God’s wisdom because we just need to trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us wisely. If we lean on Him and not on our own understanding, He will direct our paths.

I am going to apply what I learned by praying for wisdom today, but if God doesn’t give me wisdom I won’t be discouraged; for I know that the Holy Spirit will guide.