“For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

We have access to more information than any generation before us.

If you want to repair a faucet, understand an investment, learn a language, or figure out what that strange noise in your car might mean, you can probably find an article or video about it within seconds. You can know the news from pretty much anywhere around the world.

We certainly aren’t lacking information. But information and wisdom aren’t the same thing.

Proverbs 2 describes a father urging his son to seek wisdom as though he were searching for silver or hidden treasure. He tells him to receive his words, treasure up his commandments, listen carefully, and seek understanding.

That sounds like effort.

Yet a few verses later, we’re told,

“For the Lord gives wisdom.”

Those two ideas belong together.

Godly wisdom isn’t something we simply figure out on our own, nor is it something God pours into our minds while we remain passive. God gives wisdom through His Word, and He calls us to seek it, listen to it, learn from it, and live according to it.

Think about the difference between knowing and being wise.

You can know that harsh words escalate an argument and still fire off the angry text. You can understand that money cannot provide lasting security and still build your life around getting more of it. You can know that forgiveness is important and continue rehearsing another person’s offense in your mind. I could go on, but you get the point.

The problem isn’t always that we don’t know what is right. Sometimes we know perfectly well.

Wisdom takes God’s truth seriously enough to let it shape the way we actually live.

That’s one reason spending time in God’s Word matters. We aren’t merely collecting Bible facts. We are listening to the One who sees reality more clearly than we do. As His Word exposes our foolishness, corrects our thinking, comforts us with His promises, and directs our steps, God is shaping us into wiser people.

That doesn’t happen all at once.

We can study the Bible for decades and listen to hundreds of sermons and lectures on God’s Word and still open the Bible and discover something new. Or we may have memorized certain passages in the Bible, but when we finally put them into practice, our understanding of that passage takes on a much deeper meaning.

In fact, you’ve already spent twenty-seven days in Proverbs in this devotional series, and you probably haven’t reached the point where you never make foolish decisions anymore.

Neither have I.

We are finite beings who must continue to learn and gain understanding and wisdom throughout our lives. Additionally, we remain sinners who need God’s wisdom, correction, and grace every day. Most of all, we need the Savior to whom all Scripture ultimately points. Jesus doesn’t merely give us better information about how to live. He gives Himself for foolish sinners, forgiving us and making us His own.

So keep seeking wisdom.

Not because you’ll eventually know everything, but because you know the One who does.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

You are the source of true wisdom. Thank You for speaking to me through Your Word. Forgive me for the times I have known what is right but chosen another way. Give me a hunger for Your truth and teach me not merely to know it, but to live according to it. Continue to correct what is foolish in me, strengthen what is weak, and keep me close to Jesus, in whom I have forgiveness and life.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.