Proverbs 2:6-7a

“For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;” NRSV

There’s an old saying: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” meaning that nothing in the world comes without a price. And yet, there are many things from the Lord that are gifts, are things that we don’t have to earn.

“The Lord gives wisdom.” Just for the asking, our Father is willing to give that wisdom that we so desperately want. We may be in the middle of the biggest mess anyone can imagine. And the Lord will give us wisdom in how to persevere through it without sinning. James confirms this in his epistle:

“If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you” (James 1:5 NRSV).

James goes onto say:

“But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (v. 6-7 NRSV).

This, then, is one of the “conditions” of asking. We must ask, believing that God will answer, that He will give us the wisdom we need.

But when we believe, sometimes it doesn’t happen. James goes on:

“You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures” (4:2b-3 NRSV)

I think, however, that we fail to do two things. We either don’t ask or we ask with the wrong intentions. I think that we often ask for wisdom, but don’t like the answer we get so we don’t do it. Father God tells us what to do, but it requires that we humble ourselves or give up something we love or turn away from a pet sin. And so, we ignore the wisdom. Sometimes we even deny that it is wisdom.

God has promised that He will always give good things to His children who ask:

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11 NRSV).

We see in this passage that God gives us three things: wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

Wisdom, “chokmah, is the knowledge and the ability to make the right choices at the opportune time” (Vine’s, H2521). Knowledge, “da’at,” is the ability to know, to perceive. Understanding, “tebunah, represents the act, faculty, object, and personification of wisdom” (Vine’s, H8394). In other words, the Lord doesn’t just give us a bit of wisdom or a piece of knowledge or a little skill. He gives us everything that we need for that situation.

We can ask without hesitation and without worrying whether or not it will be enough or appropriate for the situation. The Lord doesn’t give just some and then expect us to make up the difference. He gives us everything that we need. What we need to do is to ask . . . and then accept (and act on it). Wisdom without action is simply useless.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).