Is All You Need—Wisdom?

Proverb 4:1-9 (NKJV):

Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding;
² For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law.
³ When I was my father’s son, Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,
⁴ He also taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live.
⁵ Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶ Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.
⁷ Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
⁸ Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
⁹ She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”

If any of you have children, then you will notice the same thing that I am emphasizing here: generational teaching of God`s word! I was wondering for a long time, how is that when God showed up to see Solomon, he was able to ask the right question and asked for wisdom instead of everything else.  

⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”⁶ And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷ Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. ⁹ Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” ¹⁰ The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹ Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, ¹² behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. ¹³ And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. ¹⁴ So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” (1 King 3:5-14)

As we read in the proverb above, we can clearly see the answer to this question: David, his father, made sure to bring him up in knowledge and realization of this urgent need to have wisdom in order to please the Lord and to do what`s right in His sight (verses 3-9). It doesn`t just happen overnight that we wake up and ask for the right blessing or make right choices, but rather it`s the result and fruit of the upbringing in walk with the Lord. It is the fruit of abiding in God.

This is something that`s always in the back of my mind when I think about my daughter and her upbringing: how much of God`s word I place in her heart on the daily basis, so that going through her life, she could seek the right direction and motivation from the Lord.

Solomon was passing over to his sons this same guidance he received as instruction from his own father David:

My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, ² So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; ³ Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, ⁴ If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; ⁵ Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; ⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; ⁸ He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path (Proverb 2:1-9 NKJV).

Please note the way Solomon emphasizes the need of wisdom and what he clears it to be:

- Will understand the fear of the Lord (verse 5)

- Find the knowledge of God (verse 5)

These two crucial things without which we cannot function in life and do what`s right: understanding what the fear of God is, and having knowledge of God.

Jonah was running away from the Lord because he knew who God was: merciful and longsuffering God.

² So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm (Jonah 4:2 NKJV).

Knowing God enables us to fit in His plan and allows Him using us whichever way He needs to. It is by seeking Wisdom that we can completely comprehend the heart of the Lord and see our circumstances through His eyes.

Do you live your life knowing who God is and seek His understanding the way David did and the way Solomon did? What`s more, do you instruct your children in His way to make sure they are brought up in God`s word and knowing that they need wisdom from the Lord to bear fruit in their lives?

This became one of my primary prayers for each day—seeking the wisdom from the Lord in whatever circumstances I have. I still have some unresolved issues that I`m praying about, so I ask the Lord to guide me and to give me wisdom.

Wisdom points us to study God`s word, wisdom guides us to seek the Lord first, wisdom directs to be still waiting on the Lord to go ahead of us instead of launching forward ourselves. It is wisdom that we should teach our children the same way David taught Solomon, and if we fail to do that, we should not be surprised why we see our children fail in life. It is the time that we invest in them teaching who God is and what is essential in order to be a man or a woman after God`s own heart, that`s what matters.

I would encourage you today to take your time and to commit being that parent who would ponder on God`s word seeking wisdom yourself and teaching your children to do the same just as we read in Proverbs. Solomon did not wake up one day out of the blue and decided to seek wisdom, but it was something that David invested in him through the God`s word, quality teaching, but most importantly living it out with his own life`s example. It is when we see David being called a man after God`s own heart, that I want to have the same title in Lord`s eyes.

All the suffering I went and still go through, all the trials, they should amount to something that makes it all worth at the end of the day. It is when I see my daughter asking to pray with her or asking where Jesus is, my heart rejoices and I know that I fulfil my duty as a parent as much as I can. At the end of the day God would hold me responsible to what I pondered and reinforced in her life, and I am well aware of it. That`s why I would encourage you and remind you that each parent is responsible for the way the children are taught, so let`s make sure, we point them to the Lord`s wisdom, so they have a full knowledge and understanding of who God is. Without wisdom we could never completely comprehend it and live it out.