The philosopher Aristotle once said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”[1] Our self-absorbed, truth-is-relative culture loves sayings like this! We love taking personality type quizzes and learning more about our Enneagram numbers. We think by knowing more about ourselves we’ll be able to better understand ourselves, take care of ourselves, and make better decisions for ourselves. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with personality quizzes, they do have us focusing solely on ourselves to become better people, and the Bible completely disagrees with this-
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Proverbs 9:10, ESV
Wisdom does not begin with us! Wisdom begins with God. Why? Because He is wise-
“With God are wisdom and might; He has counsel and understanding… With Him are strength and sound wisdom;” Job 12:13,16a
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
Our God is wise! He knows and understands everything, so He always make wise decisions. He never does anything foolish or unwise. On the other hand, we are imperfect, foolish human beings who are always capable of doing stupid things. Therefore, God’s ways and thoughts will always be higher and wiser than ours. This is why we must be careful not to look into ourselves to find the answers to our life problems. The Bible warns against this in the book of Proverbs-
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Proverbs 14:12
Looking into ourselves for wisdom will ultimately get us nowhere. In fact, it will actually lead us to spiritual death! If we want to gain true wisdom and life, we must instead look to God. Proverbs 9:10 (see above) tells us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Now, this fear is not like a fear of heights or a fear of drowning. This fear actually refers to respect or reverence. This verse also says wisdom (insight) is the knowledge of God (Holy One). R.C. Sproul writes something similar-
“The purpose of gaining knowledge is to become wise in the sense of knowing how to live in a way that is pleasing to God.”[2]
If we want to gain wisdom from our wise Lord, we must respect, honor, and submit to Him. We must also strive to learn more about Him and what He desires of us through His Word (special revelation) and through His creation (general revelation). But there is one other thing we must do to gain godly wisdom – ask for it!
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5
Do you desire to be truly wise? Ask God to give you wisdom! Pray that He will transform you and renew your mind so that you’ll be able to discern God’s will as you make decisions (Romans 12:2). Honor God and study His Word. He is an all-wise God who never makes a wrong decision. You are His child, and He loves to pass His wisdom down to His children! Those who are wise are pure, peaceable, gentle, considerate, sincere, and righteous, but those who are unwise are envious and selfish (James 3:13-18). Do not seek what seems right to man. Seek God’s wisdom! And live as those who are wise. Give thanks to your wise God-
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!” Romans 11:33
[1] “Wisdom Quotes,” Goodreads, accessed April 30, 2019, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/wisdom.
[2] R.C. Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2014), 70.
