Wisdom is defined as the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.
For us, wisdom is typically gained through experience over time. But God is full of perfect, unchanging wisdom. God is omniscient, which means He knows the true outcome of every choice, so He does not need to learn by experience. And God is eternal, so He does not experience a sense of learning or progressing over time because He does not experience time like we do. And God is immutable, so He does not change, which means that He cannot become more or less wise than He already is.
So we can ascribe wisdom to God as an attribute, not as something that He has - as if it can been gained or lost - but as something that He is. He always was and always will be perfectly wise. He is the embodiment of wisdom. He declares what is true, and right, and He is the judge of these things. He is wisdom.
Unlike God’s omnipotence, omniscience, or omnipresence, which cannot be imparted to us, God’s wisdom is one of His communicable attributes. That means that God can give, or communicate, to us a measure of His wisdom. The Bible even says that if you lack wisdom, or if you want more wisdom, all you have to do is ask God, and He will give it to you. And He will do so out of generosity, and will not rebuke you for asking!
And, since God is wisdom, when we possess and apply wisdom we are truly bearing His image - like He created us to do. God is the definer and judge of everything that is right and true, so when we act in wisdom, we reflect the very character of God into the world. In that respect, wisdom is so much more than just knowing and doing the right thing. It is embracing and reflecting the very character of God - His goodness, love, justice, mercy, etc… That’s why any dictionary definition of wisdom will always seem to fall short of truly capturing the essence of the true meaning of wisdom - because God is wisdom - all of Him, and to be wise is to reflect His character.
Wisdom is described to us, in the book of Proverbs, as being the most precious thing that we can desire. More precious than silver and gold! God made us to be in relationship with Him, and to have dominion over His creation, and we cannot rightly do that as fools. We must, first and foremost, possess wisdom in order to fulfill the mandate that God gave us. But we must know God in order to possess wisdom. Because wisdom is the ability to discern what is true, and right, and lasting - and those things are only from God - you need to know God in order to be wise.
In fact, the Bible says that the beginning of wisdom is to fear God. Fear in this context is defined as awe and reverence, and you cannot be in awe of God without trying to know Him. You can’t be in awe of God by sitting around and criticizing everything that you perceive as going wrong. You have to humble yourself and look at everything that God has made, and everything that He has done with His creation, and everything that He has said would come to pass, and has, and is coming to pass. You have to go outside and look at the sky, and the trees, and the grass, and people, and the animals, and the insects, and the fish, and the birds, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and everything! And you have to realize that there is no way that everything just randomly came together in a perfect system, and that every living thing shares a common design, and lives according to a common pattern. And you have to see that God, by His wisdom and power and goodness and love created and sustains every detail of everything that we can possibly comprehend.
Then, by knowing God, you can begin to approach what it means to have wisdom. Only by knowing God, and following Him, and surrendering your ego, and selfishness, and carnal desires over to His will, can you even begin to be wise. For every bit of God that you reject is reflected in your foolishness, and stubbornness, and self-seeking. And every bit of God that you embrace is reflected in your love, and generosity, and righteousness - and that is the very measure of your wisdom.
To be wise is to be like Christ, and that is the call of everyone who believes in Jesus for salvation. So call on Jesus to save you, and the Holy Spirit to teach you, and God to give you wisdom. Meditate on God and His word, and sit at His feet, and invite His presence into every moment of your life. Loosen your grip on the things of this world, and reach out to touch the hem of His garment, and kneel in His presence in awe and wonder. Follow Him, surrender to Him, and be wise in Him.
Proverbs 8:11 (NLT) For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.
Proverbs 9:10 (NLT) Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
Proverbs 16:16 (NLT) How much better to get wisdom than gold, and good judgment than silver!
Psalm 104:24 (NLT) O LORD, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT) “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Romans 11:33-34 (NLT) Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (NLT)The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.”
James 1:5 (NLT) If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.