A rare comodity ................Wisdom

How do we acquire wisdom?

Proverbs 2:6 says,
For the LORD gives wisdom;
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

In the 21st century we are great chasers of knowledge. We live in the age of the"knowledge super highway".  Where everything you could ever want know is available at the push of a button, including this blog. It is said that knowledge is doubling every 5-10 years. Does this mean that God is speaking more than he has in the previous 20 centuries?

I would doubt that myself otherwise, I wouldn't have to look back to the 17th century to find this weeks author Isaac Penington (1617-1680). God is always speaking and always has been. So does that mean that Solomon got it wrong in proverbs, is it really all about Google?

I would suggest that there is a plethora of information available from a variety of sources. The trick becomes how we use the information we have access to. Information is not knowledge and it is certainly not wisdom. It is just what is says information or data! It is what you do with it the will either develop it into knowledge when referenced to other things or possibly understanding. Even more rarely it may become wisdom.

Isaac Penington would suggest wisdom comes from the witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He maintains that we need to wait diligently for the leadings of the Spirit in everything that we do. It prevents us form sliding backwards into the traps of the enemy, false dogma or the vain spirit of this age. If we have no witness to what we need to know, we should continue to wait until the Spirit enlightens us. This fits with the proverb above much better.

In an age where speed is of essence of everything, does that make this advice wrong?  I don't believe it does. I believe the need for speed is an illusion in most cases. We have a lot more time in decision making than we think!! Literally waiting on God. (Isaiah 40:31)

Until Next time
Paul