Now, before you email me, yes, God hears and answers all our prayers. That isn’t what this post is about. Although sometimes, if we’re honest, God doesn’t answer our prayers on our timeline or in the way we want.
There is a prayer that he always answers yes to.
What is it?
It might surprise you.
It is the prayer for wisdom.
In James 1:5, we’re told that if we lack wisdom, we are to ask for it and God will give it. That he gives it generously and ungrudgingly to all.
Have you ever had a decision where you weren’t sure what to do?
Is now the time to get married? Do you marry this person? Are they the one?
Is now the time to have kids? How do you know if you are ready?
What college do you choose? What major? What happens if you get into and find out that you hate that major?
What jobs? How do you know which one is the best?
We face decisions all the time.
Amazingly, scientists believe that we make 35,000 decisions a day!
Some decisions you are aware of. You make a list, pro’s, con’s, trying to figure it out, talk to friends.
Some decisions, we are entirely unaware that they are happening.
But how do you decide?
Have you ever noticed that some people always know what to do? They have a calm about themselves.
They not only know what to do and when to do it but once they make that decision, they stop worrying about it. They stop stressing over whether or not that was the right one.
What do they know that you and I don’t? Wisdom.
Wisdom is not based on feelings, but on knowing and trusting the po
For many of us, wisdom comes through life experiences, but there is a secret sauce to decision making and wisdom, and that is asking God.
Often in a crisis though, we ask God to take something away, to do this or that, we ask for an answer, but we rarely ask for wisdom. Do you know why? My hunch is asking for wisdom puts some responsibility on us. Asking God to take it away or do something puts the responsibility all on him.
So that if I don’t get the answer I want or it doesn’t go the way I thought, I can throw up my hands and blame God. Many times, the answer to our prayers will be connected to an action we take.
Prayer is all about trust. It’s why we struggle with it. Why we don’t pray as much as we should or as bold as we should.
But what if James is right? I believe he is. God loves to give us wisdom for what is next.
Another thing we do is we ask God to show us the whole puzzle of our lives and the situation we are facing. We want to know all the steps along the way, but wisdom is simply for the next thing. I had a mentor tell me that if God showed us all the steps it would take to get somewhere, most of us wouldn’t get out of bed. And that’s true. Some of the hardest parts of my life have been some of the most beneficial, but if I knew ahead of time what I was walking into, I’m not sure I would’ve signed up.
And this is what happens for many of us in decisions: we get paralyzed by them. And then we stand still and watch the parade of life go by, and we wonder, why that person over there sees God move like they do, that their life is the adventure that it is.
So, think of the one area of your life that you need an answer. A way forward.
What if instead of asking for an answer or for God to clear the way (you can still ask those things), you ask for wisdom.
