The path of wisdom

Sometimes we don't know that we don't know. We are ignorant of our own lack of knowledge. It's like someone who eats lunch and ends up with a piece of lettuce stuck in their teeth: if no one tells them, they will smile all day long without noticing. That is why we need to seek discernment from God, not to know everything, but to be aware of what we still don't know.

James shows us this path in James 1:2-8. He tells us to consider it pure joy when we face trials, because the testing of our faith produces perseverance, and perseverance that has finished its work makes us mature and complete. And if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask God, who gives generously, but ask in faith, without a divided mind.

1. Wisdom is practice, not theory

James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, is a direct and practical man. He is the one who says: show me your faith, and I will show you mine by my deeds (Jas 2:18). And he is the one who warns us not to be only hearers of the Word, but doers (Jas 1:22).

This changes the way we understand wisdom:

Knowledge and information are not wisdom if there is no practice.
You only truly know what you have already practiced. The rest is theory.
A mistake only teaches you how to make that mistake. Someone who let a company go bankrupt learned how to make a company go bankrupt, not how to make it succeed.
Experience isn't wisdom either. That's why there are old fools: time brings experience, but it doesn't guarantee wisdom.

2. The first step: the test

We tend to think that every trial is something bad. But, biblically, a test is not necessarily a hardship.

2.1 God also tests us in abundance

God tests our hearts in scarcity, but also in wealth, in fame and in prosperity. And the test of abundance tends to be more revealing: in hardship, humility comes along naturally; when everything is going well, that's when our humility is really tested. It is easier to be faithful in tithing with little than with much.

Paul says he learned to live in plenty and in want, and that he can do all things through him who gives him strength (Phil 4:12-13).

2.2 You don't need to wait for the worst

When everything is fine, many people become afraid, waiting for some disaster so they can "be tested." But the one who gives the test is the teacher, not the student. You are already being tested today, in several areas of your life. God doesn't need to cause evil: He uses every circumstance, even the consequences of our mistakes, to test our hearts.

The test comes to put an end to our ignorance. It places us before decisions and challenges that we didn't even know we didn't know how to handle.

3. The second step: ask God with confidence

Faced with the test, anyone with a minimum of humility asks God. And James says God is generous: He gives wisdom without finding fault, without throwing it in our face. It's an open-book test, and we can consult the Teacher Himself.

3.1 Questions are not the problem

In the test we will have questions, and many will remain unanswered until we look back in the future. Mary asked the angel how this would happen, since she was a virgin, but she did not distrust God's word (Luke 1:34).

The problem is divided trust. That is what Elijah confronted on Mount Carmel: how long will you waver between two opinions? (1 Kgs 18:21).

3.2 When we already have the answer we want

Divided trust is often born when we have already decided what we want and go around asking for advice until someone says exactly that. Then we call it "confirmation." Our heart is deceitful (Jer 17:9), and Paul warns that people would gather teachers to suit their own desires (2 Tim 4:3). Whoever asks this way, James says, should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

3.3 Ask with the right intention

God's wisdom cannot be used as a tool for our own benefit. Samson used the gift of strength for his own interests. James says we ask and do not receive because we ask with wrong motives (Jas 4:3).

God's wisdom leads us to do what is right, not necessarily what works out.
It is not for fame, wealth or results, but for maturity.
When we mature, we bear fruit, and the ones who eat that fruit are the people around us.

4. The third step: perseverance, not stubbornness

There is only perseverance when wisdom comes from above. Without it, what we have is stubbornness, obstinacy, foolishness. Saul only needed to wait for Samuel, but anxiety led him to offer the burnt offering without authority, and he lost the kingdom (1 Sam 13).

James also speaks of a wisdom that is earthly, unspiritual and demonic (Jas 3:15), the cleverness of the world. And Paul reminds us that God's wisdom often looks like foolishness to people (1 Cor 1:18-25).

In the test, we usually ask to leave the room, not to finish the test. But the test I don't finish is the test that comes back, until my heart matures in that area.

5. The destination: maturity and wholeness

James says that perseverance makes us mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Integrity is not about being proper or perfect. It's about being whole, like whole milk.
To have integrity is to be the same person in every area, in abundance and in scarcity, like Job, who said: the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away (Job 1:21).
Not lacking anything is not about your bank account, but about your soul and your identity.

We cry over the car, the house and the job we don't have because we are not yet complete. But who we are doesn't depend on what we have; it depends on what Jesus said about us.

Conclusion

The path of wisdom goes through the test, through a sincere request to a generous God, through perseverance, and arrives at maturity and wholeness. Like the psalmist, we can say: the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing (Ps 23:1).

What test are you in today: are you asking God for wisdom to finish it, or just asking to leave the room?