How can I tap into the wisdom of God?

"Alas!" we have to exclaim, "how far from such full development we are today." Truth compels us so to speak, and our imperfection is contemplated by James in the very next verse. The objective is that we be complete, lacking nothing; but immediately there follow the words, "If any of you lack wisdom …" How often do the testings reveal our lack in this direction! A child howls when things go wrong and it gets hurt, largely because it lacks understanding, and it cannot imagine the reason of what has happened nor its object. The grown-up man in a similar case sets himself to understand and profits by the trouble. But wisdom is more than mere understanding. The wise man is one who can apply with discretion the things that he understands.

Again and again the testings reveal to us our lack of wisdom. Very well then, we are to ask wisdom from God, who gives liberally and without upbraiding, and it shall be given to us. A wise understanding of God's dealings and ways cannot possibly be ours unless it is given to us of God, hence He will not upbraid as though it were something that we ought not to need. Asking, it shall be ours in liberal measure, only we must ask in faith. It is our faith that is being tested; hence of course in our asking, faith is a sine qua non.

The apostle James, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, gives us a similar assurance in reference to the matter of asking for wisdom. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him. But" — here is the moral condition — "let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall obtain any thing of the Lord."

When a soul has fairly entered on the path of trials, which faith never fails to experience in a world departed from God, he soon finds his lack of wisdom. But his comfort is that He with Whom he has to do is alone wise, and ready to guide those that wait on Him. How much better it is that wisdom should be in Him that we may be dependent on His guidance, than if it were a possession vested in us, exposed to the danger of our setting up to do without Him! Therefore comes the exhortation to pray (cf. Luke 18:1); for our need is all the greater because we are God's children in a world where all is opposed to God. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all freely and reproacheth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea wind-driven and tossed (for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord): a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (vers 5-8).

It is of the essence of the new nature that the believer has to live in dependence on God, and to find its present exercise in the midst of trials by cultivating that confidence in Him which finds its proper expression in prayer. Hence it is that, if any one becomes sensible of deficient wisdom in presence of the many difficulties of this life, he is directed to ask of God that gives to all freely and upbraids not. How full of cheer and re-assurance! Even Christ, Himself God's wisdom, habitually waited on God, prayed at all times where men least look for it, and spent the night in prayer when the occasion called for it. If He then Who never lacked wisdom so lived, how much should we be ashamed of our failure in so drawing near to God and drawing from Him what He so readily gives!

It is God, we are told in a later revelation, that gives liberally to all, and without reproach. Yet He will be asked for it; not that any one adds to Him, or that He is beholden to man's hand. But He cannot deny Himself; and this it would be, if one found wisdom or got understanding elsewhere. The blessing comes through dependence on Him. Who of mankind knew this better than Solomon himself? Did not God say to him, "Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have done according to thy word." Nor is there another means; and "blessed" indeed is he that proves afresh that God is true and faithful, as He ever is. Even the beloved Son, when He in grace deigned to become man, even Jesus, so walked here below from tender years, and increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. He received all as man from His Father.

Solomon evidently took his father's word to heart. We notice his wisdom in his first recorded decisions after he ascended the throne. We especially see it as God asks him to choose what He should give him. A truly wise man will realize his own lack of wisdom and will seek it at the fount of wisdom-God Himself.

Solomon did not request wisdom out of vanity or for personal advantage. He realized what a tremendous responsibility the Lord had entrusted to him, young and inexperienced as he was. He wanted wisdom so as to be able to rule God's great people well. May we too seek wisdom from above to function well in our daily tasks, family needs, and in the responsibilities God entrusts to us among His people! God will be delighted to honor such requests. James 1:5-6 assures us that God is pleased to grant wisdom to all who request it of Him in faith, nothing doubting.

Now that grace has given us Christ, that we are begotten of God and have His Spirit, how suitable to look unto the same source for wisdom that springs not up from the earth or from man! But we are encouraged already, by the goodness proved when we deserved judgment and everlasting shame, to ask for all we need in our new responsibility because of our new relationship. Earthly as we once were, our hearts rose not then above it; alas we were prone to sink below it through the wiles of the enemy. Now that we are "heavenly" as the apostle Paul intimates (1 Cor. 15:48) we constantly want a wisdom that is from above. Nor is there any other good gift from the Father of lights of deeper moment for His children. Will He not give it liberally to all that wait on Him in faith, and refuse all doubt? The love He has shown us, and the assuring word He has written for us, rebuke every such questioning. If we have not, it is because we ask not. If we ask and receive not, it is because we ask amiss, that we may spend it on our pleasures. How could God consistently impart heavenly wisdom to those who mind earthly things? He gives in honour of Christ for His own glory.

This may have its counterfeit, it is true, and we must realize that. How easy it is just to get upon our knees and ask God to lead us, and then follow our hasty impulses after all! Who shall save us from the mistaking one of those things for the other? How can we give an answer to this? It is in the sanctuary that we must learn it. It is in drawing near to God, there, where the pride of man is humbled and the impulses of nature find complete control. There is no absolute rule by which we can discern what wisdom is. We are to ask God "who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given" us. In inspiration we cannot but remember how prophets spoke more wisely than they knew, so that they had to look at their own prophecies to find that which was in them, which they had not discovered; and such may be with us the far-reaching result of our actions that, if led of Him, we shall find that we have acted much better than we knew. He "giveth liberally." There is in such grace as this of which we are speaking a largeness and breadth which show it to be divine; and thus the simplest, poorest child of God, the one most consciously ignorant, just in the consciousness of that ignorance may both act and speak so of the ability that God giveth that the highest wisdom amongst men shall not come near it for the excellence that is in it; and true faith is just of this character, that it makes God all, and draws thus out of the full fountain, never seeking it in vain.

Third. In line with what has already been said, it is well to remember that all our study of the Bible must be in a reverent spirit in which all self-sufficiency and dependence upon carnal wisdom are refused, and we realize that if we are to know anything aright it must be from God alone. "The word of God and prayer" are put together as the sanctifying power in the enjoyment of all the natural gifts of God (1 Tim. 4:5). Thus the Scripture will always, if rightly apprehended, reveal our ignorance and shortcomings to us, leading us to a spirit of prayer; and in like manner our very ignorance of God's word will turn us to Him who is so ready to fulfil His word: "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" (James 1:5).

(V. 5). However, even if the will is subject and we truly desire to do the will of God, we may often in our trials lack wisdom to act according to His will. If this is the case with any one of us, the Apostle says, “Let him ask of God.” Our resource is God. We might shrink from turning to men, not only because their advice might not be sound, but because they might grudge their counsel, upbraid us for our ignorance, or betray our confidence. With God we need have no such fears. He gives freely, without reproaching us for our folly and feebleness.

N.* We must wait upon the Lord to be taught, James, and He will surely instruct us. He has graciously said, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." So the Lord opened the understanding of the two that went to Emmaus, and so He does now.