James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Life constantly throws challenges at us. How should I be spending my time and money? Should I move to a different job? How can I resolve the dispute that I’ve got with my neighbour? Should I tell my colleague that he’s annoying me? How should I go about telling my daughter that I think she’s seeing the wrong people? And 1,000 other questions!
The Bible focuses a lot of attention on the subject of wisdom in both the Old and the New Testaments. Wisdom is very different from knowledge. You can have all the knowledge in the world but it will do you no good at all if you are not wise. Here, James points to God as the source of wisdom and encourages his readers to understand that God loves sharing His wisdom with us.
We learn a lot about wisdom in the book of Proverbs. Solomon speaks of wisdom as a woman who has built her house with seven pillars. For him, the fundamental truth was that “fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).
Writing about 1,000 years later, James agrees with Solomon. Wisdom comes from God. That doesn’t mean we will immediately become wise when we become Christians. Far from it! But it does mean we have a personal relationship with the One who is the source of wisdom, together with an assurance that He can’t wait to share it with us.
Question
What do you need wisdom about today?
Prayer
Lord, please help me to seek Your wisdom with greater determination. Amen

Released on 22 Sep 2026