Prayers for Wisdom
The world would define wisdom as having experience, knowledge, and good judgement. This is not wrong, however the Bible defines wisdom at its core, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way” Proverbs 8:13. It is the ability to regard a situation and have sound judgement to know what is right. The Bible would describe wisdom as “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 based on these two definitions we see that to have wisdom we need to have knowledge of God. While this can and should most certainly be done by being in His Word daily, we also should spend time praying for wisdom. Wisdom is a characteristic that God will grant to those who ask of it “5 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 God will not hold back good things from those who have placed their faith in Him, this includes knowledge of Him. Perhaps the most famous prayer of wisdom can be found in 1 Kings 3:4-9.
“4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” 6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great faithfulness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great faithfulness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 And now, Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am like a little boy; 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 who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil. For who is capable of judging this great people of Yours?””
The first thing to notice here is that God came to Solomon, this wasn’t due to the sacrifices that he had made but because Solomon’s heart was right with the Lord. God wished to work through Solomon; His will would have been done regardless, but having a servant with a heart surrendered to Him allowed God to show what He can offer when we have our hearts right with Him. Solomon was walking and following the will of God. What makes this prayer so interesting is that when Solomon was approached by God, he did not ask for fame or riches. He asked only that God grant him the wisdom to lead God’s people.
However, Solomon does not start his prayer with his petition right away, instead he recognizes God’s faithfulness to his father David. The words that Solomon uses show an attitude of awe, he is worshiping God in his prayer. Solomon also recognizes that through God’s promise to David, he was allowed to claim the throne and rule God’s chosen people. This shows faith that God will complete His promises.
Solomon then recognizes his own inability to rule the people. This was not false humility, Solomon is simply recognizing that he is no more than a child and does not have the knowledge to do right by the people. The only knowledge that could allow him to complete his task is the knowledge that is granted by God. He is recognizing that to rule is a task that is bigger than himself, in order to be successful Solomon would need to depend upon God to complete His work through Solomon. It is with this knowledge of dependence upon God that Solomon makes his request for wisdom.
The type of wisdom that Solomon was asking for was a living wisdom. He wanted more than a head knowledge of what to do, Solomon wanted a heart that listened to God and followed what He said. This again is showing that Solomon recognizes that he is dependent upon God to successfully rule. If you read 1 Kings 3:10-15, you will see God’s response back to Solomon. Remember, God knows our prayers before we ourselves know what we are going to pray for. It is through humility and knowing that we can’t handle whatever situation we are in without Him that causes us to come before God with our prayers. Even though God knew what Solomon would ask of Him, Solomon’s response still pleased Him. God not only granted Solomon great wisdom, but also riches that he did not ask for.
To ask for wisdom should not be something that after reading this prayer we say “Oh I wish I had thought of that!” As already stated, God wants to give us good things, He will not hold back from those who are following Him. “7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7 we also need to keep in mind that we need to pray that God’s will be done, not ours. In fact most times, what seems wise to us is foolish to God. We need to pray as Solomon did that God gives us the wisdom that we need for the situation that we are in.
As a note, we should be praying for wisdom when we are doing our Bible studies. If we pray for wisdom in regards to God’s Word we will see the words on the page turn to life and we will have a deeper understanding of the Scriptures.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex