Every morning, without fail, I pray a prayer of commitment. It is a prayer that I wrote and then memorized. It has changed over the last 30 years since I first wrote it, a little bit, but not much. Towards the end of the prayer I ask God to give me His wisdom, quoting James 1:4 to God as a faith statement, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who will give to him generously and without reproach.” I then make the commitment to God that I will seek for wisdom like silver, or gold, or precious treasure, with all my heart. Again, I have made this commitment and prayed that prayer every morning without fail for 30 years plus. Why? Because I know that I need wisdom desperately, and I am so far from being a “wise man”.

God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what one thing he would like God to do for him, and he asked for wisdom. God was very pleased with his request and made him the wisest man on the earth.

1 Kings 4:29-31 Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men.

Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, a book full of wisdom principles, anointed by God as a major source of wisdom for each one of us. I read one chapter every day from Proverbs.

But if you read the book of Ecclesiastes, also written by Solomon, you will read the words of a man who had become a fool. You might say, the greatest fool of them all. Solomon did not end his life well, especially for a man who had begun so well with so many advantages over most. Why? I am sure there are many reasons, but I believe a major one is he only asked for wisdom once. Because he had it he assumed he would keep it so he violated his own words, “don’t be wise in your own eyes, lest you become a fool”. Because he had wisdom he did not continue to seek for wisdom or to ask God for wisdom and he became a fool.

We desperately need wisdom to navigate through our times. Those who don’t seek it diligently or ask God for it desperately will be left with natural wisdom, earthly wisdom, and demonic wisdom, rather than that wisdom which comes down from above.