Successful Living > Wisdom > What is Wisdom?

Wisdom

What is Wisdom?

Wisdom and truth will enter the very center of your being filling your life with joy. (Proverbs 2:10 - Living Bible)

Wisdom will fill you with living energy. Have two goals: wisdom, and common sense (Proverb 3:2122 - Living Bible)

What is wisdom?

"Wisdom, according to the Bible, is about the sense you make of creation in order to live effectively". --Uncommon Wisdom, page 52

• How do you tell what's right from wrong?
• In human interactions - how do you know what will work and what won't?
• How do you know when to speak up, how to say something just right (to persuade someone to your point of  view) or when to just shut up?
• How do you judge which friends are a good influence on you (or your children)?
• How do you distinguish between a good decision and bad one?
• How do you tell a great investment from a poor one?
• How do you assess a prudent risk from a foolish one?
• How do you know which bills you can put off?
• How do you know which friend, counselor, or advisor to listen to?
• Where do you find the resourcefulness to deal with life's many challenges?

Have you ever tried to find your way in a new part of town without directions or a map? Chances are you got lost or confused. Then you may have gotten scared or upset. In any case you failed to reach your destination on time or had a difficult time getting there - life is the same way.

Wisdom provides us with a map of the landscape we seek to navigate. Not just any old map though. This one has "dead end", "one way", "no return", etc. clearly marked. Like a good tourist map, it also highlights the destinations truly worth visiting and those that are a waste of time and should be avoided.  Wisdom helps us understand our world - the people in it - and why they act the way they do.

Wisdom gives us something more important than a high IQ - it provides us with perspective. The ability to see the big picture - to make sense out of our world. To understand the causal relationship between actions and consequences. To know what will persuade and motivate others.

In essence, wisdom explains how life works. With a wiser perspective everything "falls into place". The King James version of the English Bible refers to the Hebrew "Proverbs" as the "wisdom necessary for life".

Wisdom teaches us good character, patience, prudence, discipline, integrity, discernment and discretion - the fundamental keys to success. Wisdom is our source of "deep knowing" - the well spring of creative insight or brilliant intuition - all vital to our life's mission and personal fulfillment.

According to the wisest sage of the Hebrews, King Solomon, wisdom provides true power (Eccl 7:18), as well as providing protection.(Eccl 7:12) The Bible's main wisdom section - the Jewish proverbs written 1,000 years before Jesus, promises us that wisdom will give us:

• A long, good life
• Riches
• Honor
• Pleasure
• Peace
• Common sense and good judgment (Proverb 3:16-17; 4-5 - Living Bible).

The wisdom of Solomon promises us that wisdom will:

• Rescue us from trouble
• Save us from enemies
• Keep us on God's true "path" for our life
• Prosper our efforts

In summary, wisdom is essential to our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The Bible pictures wisdom as the secret to a long, peaceful, and prosperous life. Why? Wisdom is the ability to make prudent decisions. And our life is recreated daily by our decisions.

When you think about it, it's our poor choices that are the source of 90% of our problems (you choose your career, education, spouse, business relationships, and friends; you choose how to relate to everyone in your life, you choose how to train your children, you choose how to take care of your body, etc.). Wisdom leads to intuition or insight to be able to discern the nature or essence of any situation.