What Is the Wisdom of God?

God offers us His wisdom. If you were to come to God and ask Him for wisdom, what exactly would you get? This gift is so wonderful that it is difficult to sum it up in a single definition. Let me offer you three.

A New Perspective

First, wisdom is the ability to see life from God’s point of view.  From God’s point of view, we have learned that this Christ is not only the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24) but also our very life (Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4).

Christ is not only the wisdom of God but also our very life

When you are burdened down and irritated about a certain trial, you can cry to God for wisdom (James 1:5). I have found it helpful to ask others as well to intercede for me that I may know how to view this trial from God’s perspective. There have been times that the burden has become lighter even without God changing the circumstances because of the different perspective that He has given. He may even be pleased to share with you the good that He is working out of your present difficulty (see Genesis 50:20).

A New Purpose

Second, wisdom is the ability to select the best goals for one’s life and the best means to fulfill them. The year that I was set to complete my doctoral studies, I felt compelled to pray in this way: “Lord, help me to aim my life at the right thing.” I had a fear of aiming my life at the wrong thing, achieving it, and at the end of my life discovering that the ladder I had climbed was leaning against the wrong wall. My prayer was, “Lord, help me to aim my life at that which is at the center of Your heart.”

That prayer is a prayer for wisdom. I believe that a significant part of the answer of that prayer was God directing me to focus on His attributes in my life and ministry.

What are His goals for you? God knows. Through prayer and Scripture seek to learn His goals for you.

A New Life

Third, wisdom is the ability to live with skill before God. There are skills that can make one useful, such as the skill of carpentry. The skilled craftsmen who built the tabernacle were endowed with wisdom (Exodus 31:3). There is also a skill of living life. Proverbs is designed to train one in these skills. For example, there is a skill in using your tongue, in handling your money, and in relating to people. Our wise God yearns to share with us the skill we all desperately need in our relationships, marriages, families, and churches.