What is wisdom? Week 1 God’s Wisdom Study

Week 1 of Timothy Keller’s book God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life jumps in looking at “What is wisdom?” If you are studying Proverbs or using Tim Keller’s book above, I hope my notes will help you on your study of wisdom.

We have been dedicating ourselves to the slow study of Proverbs. Our first task is to understand what wisdom is. Here’s a list of what was covered so far.

• Wisdom comes from God. 
• You can be good and moral, yet still unwise. 
• We learn wisdom through difficulty in life. The more we do hard things the more wisdom we gain.
• God opens our minds and hearts in life to see fine distinctions in things so that we can be wise and relate to others.
• Wisdom leads to prudent behavior. 
• Not only will wisdom give us discernment, but also discretion. 
• Wisdom comes from being immersed in the word of God.

Second, we understand wisdom by contrasting it with foolishness. Week 1 has us in the beginning of this contrasting section so we will only take a quick peek. I really loved the prayer, and feel like it is a good summary. 

Lord, my heart so often wants to deny reality, but that is foolish. Reality in this fallen world is both wonderful and terrible. Help me to see it for what it is, and teach me to walk wisely in it.

Tim & Kathy Keller

Recognizing Our Need for God’s Wisdom

The first day opens up the question, of what area of life do you need wisdom?

After identifying these areas, we dig in deeper into God’s word and find so many areas that were left untouched by these larger categories. Looking at wise people around us we see that people who are wise speak slowly, think deeply, and listen closely. 

Wisdom understands that words are important and carry weight and meaning. Choosing carefully what to say demonstrates great wisdom. Proverbs 17:28 tells us “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise.” 

Looking to the outward appearance of a person, their good and moral character does not always tell us that they are wise. So when we are doing “good” or “moral” things, is it a reflection of wisdom? Or is it something else that compels us to put on these acts for others?

It reminds me of when Jesus was meeting with the pharisees. These men by all accounts (especially their own) were good and moral. But they lacked wisdom as we can see in Matthew 12:12. 

Recognizing our need for God’s wisdom shows that we know it is much more than our outer works, but our inner hearts that need to grow. God’s wisdom cuts through the red tape to heal the sick, fix what’s broken, and make right what is wrong. 

Wisdom in action? Reaping the fruit of our labors

When we lack wisdom we can fall into the trap of sowing the wrong seeds. When this happens, we end up eating the fruit of the foolish, instead of enjoying the feast of wisdom. 

But the good news is, all of those difficulties in life, we can learn from them!

We can grow in our knowledge, understanding, instruction and wisdom. Remove the glasses that cause us to see in only black and white. Wisdom sees fine distinctions, and sometimes those distinctions are gray. 

Romans 14:23 gives us a perfect examples of this: “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” It wasn’t the eating that was a sin, it was the doubts vs. faith. It’s the fine distinctions and they matter. 

This verse also shows us that we don’t all see the same fine distinctions. What may be clearly wrong to someone else, maybe perfectly acceptable to another. 

But it’s important to keep things in context. We do not want to cause one another to stumble. Romans 14:13 “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”

God’s Wisdom in Action, step-by-step

God’s wisdom provides us with instruction in prudent behavior. Wisdom helps us to do what is right and just and fair. Finally, we get to put our head knowledge to use. Discerning what is right to do and then having the discretion to do it wisely. This is what I’m waiting for!

But just like I talked about earlier, sometimes we do not have the discretion. We may understand the right thing to do, but lack the wisdom on how to do that right thing. 

For me, I like to think of it like baking. When I bake, because I have baked very often and from scratch, I understand quite a bit about the required ingredients and how they work together. So when I’m baking, if I’m missing a key ingredient, like an egg or flour, I am able to recall other recipes and things they used. I may substitute oil for an egg, or a nut flour for regular baking flour. At the end of my baking, I still have a yummy baked good to eat. 

But, my daughter has not baked for long. She sees me looking at a recipe, and then throwing it out the window and using what I have on hand and coming up with something good. So, she thinks, she can do that too! Throw out the recipe, put good things together and end up with … disaster. 

She lacks instruction. Nor does she have the understanding of how the ingredients work together. The resulting mess is inedible. It usually sits on the counter for a week and then we throw it out.

How can we get God’s wisdom and avoid foolishness? 

The easy Sunday school answer is … from God! Of course, and that is true. We need to read our Bibles, pray. But we also need to listen, add to our knowledge. Learn, seek guidance, turn to the wise people in our lives. 

If God’s word is where wisdom comes from, and we know people who are filled with God’s wisdom, then we can and should absolutely seek guidance from those people. God created us to be in a community of believers, not living out our faith alone, but along side one another. Where you may be lacking wisdom, another may have an abundance and vice versa. 

It is foolish pride that keeps us from seeking help from one another. I hate to admit I don’t know all the things. That I can’t see all the perspectives myself. But, when we are humble before our God and with each other, that is the best place to learn wisdom. 

I pray that as we study God’s wisdom for Navigating Life and Proverbs that we will be slow and let ourselves be fully immersed in God’s beautiful word. That the Holy Spirit would move in our hearts and minds. That our knowledge, instruction, and discernment would lead us to sowing seeds of wisdom. 

That’s it for Week One of God’s Wisdom Proverbs. Stay tuned for more!