Have you noticed how often we pray this prayer? We’ve all got stuff going on that we have to deal with, or we’re trying to serve God and don’t know how to be effective, or we just don’t know what to do with our lives. Here’s a list of the most common areas where Christians pray for wisdom (thanks, ChatGPT):

• relationships and parenting
• work and finances
• conflicts and ethical decisions
• health, life changes and personal challenges
• God’s will and leading a ministry
• spiritual growth and understanding the Bible

So if you’re like me, you want to ask for wisdom, like the Bible says:

• If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. – James 1:5
• I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. – Eph 1:17
• We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience – Col 1:9-11

But outside of those 3 verses, the rest of the New Testament mostly praises God’s wisdom (18x) and condemns ours (14x). Here are the only other verses where our wisdom is written about positively:

• when we’re being persecuted – Luke 21:15, Acts 6:10
• when choosing deacons – Acts 6:3
• giving a word of wisdom – 1 Co 12:8
• proclaiming Jesus with wisdom – Col 1:28
• admonishing one another with wisdom – Col 3:16
• when Paul writing letters to churches – 2 Pe 3:15
• understanding prophetic revelation – Rev 13:18, Rev 17:9

It feels like a different list from a different orientation. Paul deliberately avoided appearing wise, lest he undermine the gospel of Jesus.

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. – 1 Co 2:1-5