Personal Prayer #2, Pray for Wisdom
By Scott Jones
As presented previously, there are three specific things that each believer should include in his or her personal prayers before engaging the civil society:
Humility
Wisdom
Courage
In this post we will look at the second bullet point, wisdom. If we are going to stand on the Word of God, then we must seek the wisdom to understand and articulate Biblical truth and a Biblical worldview. This begins with humility – “but with the humble is wisdom.”[i] and with the fear of the Lord, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”[ii] Wisdom is not simply knowledge, but the ability to discern and to articulate God’s truth. “On the lips of the discerning wisdom is found.”[iii]
So how do we gain wisdom? It begins with the knowledge of God’s word, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”[iv] In Colossians Paul prays: “We… ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”[v] So the Spirit has a role in filling believers with wisdom and understanding. Likewise, James tells us: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”[vi] So we must pray to God to grant us wisdom so that we may discern truth and share it with others.
In this practice we emulate King Solomon, who prayed for wisdom above long life, revenge, and riches[vii]. We seek discernment, an understanding heart, and good judgment. God considers wisdom so important that the entire book of Proverbs is devoted to it. Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes that wisdom for its own sake is meaningless[viii]. So, we should not ask simply for knowledge, but as Spurgeon has said: “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no greater fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”[ix] What we seek is neither accumulated knowledge, nor man’s wisdom, but the wisdom of God and the ability to apply it.
We do not want to be wise in our own eyes, nor in the eyes of the world: "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him."[x] In the politics we will find many people who substitute man’s wisdom for God’s. What is called political wisdom may be used by unscrupulous politicians to justify unjust laws and politically expedient corruption. The believer must stand courageously against this, relying on God’s word and His revealed wisdom. In order to do this, we must first fall to our knees and humbly seek His wisdom in prayer.
“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation"
[i] Proverbs 11:2
[ii] Proverbs 9:10
[iii] Proverbs 10:13
[iv] Psalms 119:105
[v] Colossians 1:9
[vi] James 1:5
[vii] 1 Kings 3:6-15
[viii] Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
[ix] (Spurgeon n.d.)
[x] Proverbs 26:12
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