True Wisdom – James 3:13-18
Humans have been seeking both knowledge and wisdom since the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, in our pride, we tend to seek wisdom from within, rather than from the source of true wisdom—God Himself.
Take the month (or longer) to breathe in God’s truth about true wisdom, then breathe out your response to Him in prayer, praise, and confession. The bulk of the study comes from James 3:13-18, where God lays out the clear distinctions between His divine wisdom and self-centered, worldly wisdom. I recommend having that passage open each time you study one of 31 topics found within the study.
1. True wisdom comes from God alone and not from within myself.
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.” (Daniel 2:20b)
Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. (Proverbs 28:26)
That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3)
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)
Study It Out
- How does Colossians 2:2-3 describe the wisdom found in Christ? How should this description guide your thoughts about the importance of pursuing the wisdom found in Christ alone?
- Read Daniel 2. Note Daniel’s immediate response of prayer and confidence in the Lord? Why might Daniel have been tempted to trust in his own wisdom or alternatively respond with panic? What does Proverbs 3:5-7 have to say as a warning to this type of thinking? How did God specifically bless Daniel when He humbly and fervently sought His wisdom?