God of Wisdom

Asking for wisdom is a common prayer request. We face all kinds of circumstances every day where wisdom is needed. Each time I sit down to write or teach, I ask God for understanding of His Word and wisdom to apply and share it. We ask for wisdom in relationships and jobs, with school and finances, for health decisions and projects. We need wisdom.

Proverbs is known as being a book of wisdom. Solomon repeatedly commands his son to “Get wisdom; get insight…The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight” (Proverbs 4:5a, 7). There is so much we could learn about wisdom, but today I want to focus on the only true source of wisdom. We can’t cover its entirety today, but I’d like to get you started focusing on the God of wisdom.

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;

by understanding He established the heavens;

by His knowledge the deeps broke open,

and the clouds drop down the dew.

Proverbs 3:19-20

I use these verses as part of my prayer time on days when I am focusing on God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. There are many verses in Scripture that teach us about God’s wisdom, understanding and knowledge, but I love these two verses because 1) they tell of God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge – all three in two verses, and 2) they demonstrate God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge from the massive elements of the universe to the tiny drop of dew.

Let’s work our way through these two verses in order to take in a little more of the grandeur of God displayed specifically in His wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. To begin, these verses in Proverbs link God’s wisdom to the creation of all that has been made. It is emphasized by the use of the Hebrew words “earth”, “heavens”, and “deeps” that are the same words used in Genesis 1:1-2. God created everything, and everything was created by His wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

I want to share with you a few quotes regarding God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge:

“But He [God] does not merely know all things past, present, and future; His knowledge involves His infinite wisdom or understanding of all things. In knowing, God is doing; in doing, God’s wisdom is manifested. So the all-knowing (omniscient) God always does what is best as the all-wise (omnisapient) God.”[1]

“[God] knows all things in and of and by Himself. For that reason His knowledge is undivided, simple, unchangeable, eternal. He knows all things instantaneously, simultaneously, from eternity; all things are eternally present to His mind’s eye.”[2]

We have a glimpse of what God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge mean. I want to look at a couple phrases from our verses today. First, “He established the heavens.” This indicates that God ordered everything. I’m not very good when it comes to science stuff, but I’m still awed by what God has designed.

“The universe has a just-right gravitational force. If it were larger, the stars would be too hot and would burn up too quickly and too unevenly to support life. If it was smaller, the stars would remain so cool, nuclear fusion would never ignite, and there would be no heat and light.

The universe has a just-right speed of light. If it were larger, stars would send out too much light. If it were smaller, stars would not send out enough light.

The universe has a just-right average distance between the stars. If it were larger, the heavy element density would be too thin for rocky planets to form, and there would only be gaseous planets. If it were smaller, planetary orbits would become destabilized because of the gravitational pull from other stars.”[3]

Second, “by His knowledge the deeps broke open” – Many commentators think this likely references the flood at the time of Noah (Genesis 7:11). Man can’t even predict the weather much less control it. God in perfect knowledge designed all the waters of the earth and that fall from the clouds.

Third, “the clouds let drop the dew” – In Genesis 2:5-6 we read, “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground…” (emphasis added). Even when we lived in Las Vegas and Dubai, it was hard for me to imagine rain never existing, and yet before the flood, there was no rain. God provided for all the vegetation by a mist. Think how small a drop of dew is, but God in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge designed tiny drops of dew to water the earth.

The other day my husband shared some new things he learned about hummingbirds. Some varieties can use air bubbles to change their color. The average hummingbird resting heart rate is 400 bpm. An active heart rate can be as high as 1200 bpm. Can you imagine that? For humans, our average resting heart rate is 60-100 bpm. All that heart action in a little bird. Their wings flap at 10-15 times/second although the Amethyst Wood-star Hummingbird has been recorded at up to 80 times/second. Per second! I don’t know if I could flap my arms more than 1 time/second. There are over 350 known hummingbird species, and that is just one type of bird, and birds are just one of billions of created things.

I don’t know about you, but considering our Creator God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge drives me to praise. He is worthy! But that isn’t all. Our God, the all-wise, all-knowing Creator, is working in our lives with the same wisdom, understanding, and knowledge that created all things. In His wisdom, understanding, and knowledge God created the expansive universe and the tiny drop of dew and the cell, which is the smallest unit of a living organism, and in that same wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, God is working in your life from the big picture to the minutest detail in your day with the purpose of conforming you to the image of Jesus and for His glory.

But wait! There’s more. Paul prayed that the Colossian believers would be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 2:9). This is really a whole other discussion but pause for a moment to saturate in the truth that God shares His knowledge, wisdom, and understanding with us. He can fill us with it. We have been given His Word and His Spirit who helps us understand His Word. We also know Jesus as our personal Savior “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). These truths should blow your mind. Grace upon grace that Creator God by wisdom, understanding, and knowledge created all things including you, is working in you, sent Jesus, in whom all wisdom and knowledge are hidden, to redeem us, and shares His wisdom, understanding and knowledge with us through His Word and Spirit.

Reflection

1. Pick one thing in creation and think of as many different and amazing aspects of it that you can (like the hummingbird) that display God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in those details. Then take time to praise God in prayer and/or song for His creation. Share what you find on social media and point others to the God of wisdom.

2. We may not say it aloud, but functionally we often question God’s wisdom, understanding, and knowledge at work in our lives. When I complain about the traffic or my health, essentially, I am saying that God doesn’t know what He is doing. He isn’t wise, understanding, or knowledgeable in what He has purposed for me. I think that I know better than all-wise, omniscient God. When was the last time you questioned God’s wisdom at work in your life? Ask God for forgiveness. How can you see His wisdom, understanding, and knowledge at work in you?

3. God has given us all the wisdom and knowledge we need for life and godliness in His Word (2 Peter 1:3). Do you read the Bible with the urgency Solomon had, “Get wisdom! Get insight!”? Do you ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand as you read God’s Word? What is a bit of recent wisdom, understanding, or knowledge you have gleaned from God’s Word? Who can you share it with?

[1] Jones, Mark, God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God, (Wheaton, IL, Crossway, 2017). [2] Herman, Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, God and Creation, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 196. [3] David Guzik, Proverbs, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2017), Pr 3:19–20.