Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
James 1:5-8 “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.”(KJV)
When we ask God for wisdom, we can trust Him to give it to us. It's important to understand how these two verses work together. First of all, gaining wisdom is a process. It starts when we fear and respect the Lord enough to come before Him and listen to what He wants to say to us. We can hear from Him through reading and meditating on His Word. We can also hear His heart for us by getting quiet before Him and listening to what He wants to tell us. As we practice these two things, we are gaining knowledge and understanding of Who He really is. Knowledge of Who God is and how He works leads to wisdom. At first, He will lead us into wisdom by telling us exactly what He wants us to do. When we practice listening and obeying, we get to see His faithfulness. We realize He will do what He says He will do. This gives us more and more confidence that we can trust Him and we become bolder in our obedience to step out and do the things He tells us to do. Then He starts leading us by whether we have peace about a decision we are making. When we learn to respond to His peace and say no to the things we don't have peace about, then He starts teaching us how to think things through. We learn to think about a situation through what God's Word says and how He has led us in similar situations in the past. He will even remind us of things we have learned before. Be sure to listen to the impressions and directions He gives as we think through a situation. This practice gives us experience in how God has worked in the past and that gives us wisdom in new situations. We can always rely on whether we have peace or not to know if we are making the right decision. God guides us by His peace. If this sounds too overwhelming, remember it is one step at a time. Here a little there a little. It's so exciting when we realize we have actually made progress!
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