Here are some notes from a sermon I wrote on the topic of wisdom and gaining godly wisdom.

A young man was searching for the secret of wisdom, and heard that there was a guru high in the Himalayas who knew. So he set off to find the guru, going through much hardship and until finally, high in the mountains, he found the Master sitting in the lotus posture.

“Tell me, oh Master!” he cried. “What is the secret of wisdom?”
The Master replied: “Good judgment.”
“But how do you get good judgment?” asked the young man.
The Master replied: “Experience.”
“And how do you get experience?” the young man persisted.
“Ah,” said the Master: “Bad judgment.”

• Well in a story like this, you may be thinking of a person who did a similar act in the Bible. There was a man who asked the highest power for wisdom. He didn’t ask for money or power, simply asked for wisdom. This man was Solomon.
• Solomon wrote a good chunk of Proverbs most likely and so we get insight into a man who had the wisdom of God.
• As we read, we are going to ask ourselves this question, “How do we get wisdom?” How do we gain wisdom, how do we access the wisdom of God.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
    but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

What is this fear of the Lord?

• It can mean a lot of things. It can mean to have this reverence and respect. It can also mean to be afraid or terrified of something.
• Whatever it means, it must be the source of this wisdom or at least the stepping stone to gaining this wisdom. Then the question becomes “How do we fear the Lord, how do we understand it?”.
  • Luckily, God answers that question for us.

Proverbs 2:1-5

My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
² turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—
³ indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

Solomon tells us that if we do three things, we will understand what the fear of the Lord is.

1. Accept the teachings and the words as truth.

Luke 11:28 Jesus says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

• Ask God for wisdom and understanding as Solomon did.

James 1:5-8 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 

• Seek out this wisdom

When we do these things what do we find? What is the fear of the Lord? We can let Scripture answer that for us as well.

Proverbs 8:13

To fear the Lord is to hate evil

Job 28:28

And he said to the human race,
    “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
    and to shun evil is understanding.”

Fearing the Lord means we reject and despise evil that takes place in our lives and in our communities.

Haggai the prophet encountered this type of evil and caused the people of Israel to fear the Lord.

Haggai 1:5-6

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 

⁶ You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. 

You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

• God is telling them that their work is fruitless. They plant but do not harvest anything. They eat and drink but are not satisified. The Lord gives them their answer as to why.

Haggai 1:7-9

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁸ Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. ⁹ “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.

• Everyone was too busy with their own ways and too selfish to think about God. The temple was not built which meant they were not worshipping Him, they were not offering sacrifice and praise. They had forgotten God.

Haggai 1:12-13

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

¹³ Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.

• They feared the Lord and they obeyed Him. And then God was with them. This is a powerful statement that now they obeyed God, they were fearing Him, and He was with Him.

How are we supposed to fear the Lord and despise evil where it is accepted? Only through Jesus and the Spirit.

Colossians 2:7

in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

Ephesians 1:17

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

To summarize, we have to accept God’s Word, and ask God for wisdom without doubting. By doing so we will understand the fear of the Lord and despise evil, and allow God’s wisdom into our lives through Jesus who died for us and the Spirit that lives in us.