Following God's Way

We also want to hear from God when we lack wisdom. When we need advice. When we don’t know enough, something unexpected comes up, or we sense something in our lives is not quite right. Maybe we want to stop doing something, but keep making the same mistakes. We often need insight we can’t find within ourselves. There’s good news! God offers to give us the wisdom we lack.

We discover this in a New Testament letter attributed to Jesus’s half-brother, James. A leader in the early church, he was greatly influenced by Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job (there are references to all three books in his letter). As a result, we might expect James to reference the fear of the Lord explicitly. He doesn’t, but it’s there, unstated yet foundational to his teaching.

He warns that we can easily, even unintentionally, live as enemies of God. This looks like pursuing what we want at all costs, regardless of who it hurts. Not caring for the poor and vulnerable. Treating wealthy people with honor but ignoring those who don’t bring us value. Acting like we’re in control of our lives and the cause of our own success. When we live in these ways, as if we’re the masters of our fate, James says we’re opposing God.

Instead, we’re challenged to recognize and place ourselves under the authority, bigness, and unlimited perspective of God. To humble ourselves by drawing near to him. To admit with tears the broken ways we manipulate others to our own ends, and to care for them instead. Ultimately, we’re called to surrender control and trust in God with every part of our lives.

This is the starting place for discovering God’s wisdom for today. As we face moments where we need insight, we’ll find that as we draw near to God, he draws near to us (4:8). As we look to him, and not ourselves, as the source of wisdom, we’ll find wisdom.

This may not mean we hear “answers” for the dilemmas in front of us, but as we lean into God’s presence and immerse ourselves in the wisdom literature of the Bible, we begin, like James, to process our lives and the decisions we face in light of God’s best. Because ultimately that’s what we want, isn’t it? Not just wisdom for a decision or two, but to live wisely, no matter what we face.

Take a minute to pray:

Wise Father, who longs to grow us in insight and understanding, fill me with your wisdom. As I face decisions or dilemmas today, please help me not look to my own strength or mental capacity for discernment, but to listen for and trust in the guiding light and peace of your Spirit. And when others look to me for advice, help me to first pause, listen for your insight, and only share with them what you’d have for me to share. Amen.