When I was a child there were two words that were unbearable: “NO” and “WAIT.”  I have a natural bias against waiting.  So when I read in the Scriptures that we are to “wait on the LORD.”  I get nervous.  I know I cannot comply with the command.  In the first place, what did it mean to “wait” on the Lord. I heard Dr. Adrian Rogers, founder of Love Worth Finding Ministries preach that  “waiting on the LORD” is best described as:

 “watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.” Proverbs 8:34

It calls to mind lovers waiting for a glimpse of their beloved.  It calls to mind the masses waiting at the gates of Malacanang to see President Magsaysay.  For lovers, waiting is anticipating the pleasure of the beloved’s company.  For the masses, it is the anticipation that their needs will be met.  For these people, whether they wait out of sheer desire for pleasure or out of dire need, waiting didn’t make them nervous; waiting heightened the anticipation of pleasure or relief.

Solomon was like that when he first became king. (1 Kings 3) He waited on the Lord.  He had a great need, you see.  He was young when he was named king and he felt inadequate.  He knew he needed something supernatural for him to fulfill his kingly duties: he needed wisdom.

Back in those days, there was no concept of separation of powers.  All governmental powers resided in the king.  There was no separate executive, legislative or judicial branches of government, the king was all this.  Back in the days of Martial Law, the dictator Marcos was all this: he made laws; he executed those laws; and he interpreted the laws in specific cases brought to him for judgment because he held the Supreme Court in his hand.  Solomon was like that: he was the absolute ruler of Israel.

With this background in mind, we see why when he first became king Solomon was shown always at prayer, always offering sacrifices to the Lord, always kneeling.  He was waiting for God, waiting on God because he had a great need that cannot be filled with all the training and education he had already had: he needed wisdom, he needed the wisdom of God.

According to Vine’s Concise Dictionary of the Bible, the Hebrew word wisdom [chokmah] is knowledge coupled with the ability to make the right choices at the opportune time.  It is also the consistency of making the right choice.

Something happens when a man seeks God and waits for God with his whole heart: God appears.  God speaks. God addresses the man’s need. Something happens when a man seeks the wisdom of God:  God gives it to him.  It seems thrilling to think of God appearing and speaking directly to a man.  It is a privilege to speak with God and an honor when God speaks to you. It sets you apart from the rest of humanity.  It marks you: the presence of God leaves an indelible mark on your life.  The Bible says that God immediately gave Solomon the wisdom he sought.

Solomon was set apart after God gave him wisdom: there was no king ever like him.  He had no equal.   God spoke to Solomon two more times after that (1Kings 9 and 1 Kings 11).  The second appearance contained a veiled warning; the third appearance was to pronounce judgment on Solomon.  God found him guilty of idolatry; his idolatry was occasioned by his love for many foreign pagan women.

What happened to this wise man?  What happened to the wisdom God gave him?  How can such a man fall into a life of despair?  How can a man who was given the Wisdom of God ever go wrong?  How can a man who has the wisdom of God stray so far away from God?  It doesn’t make sense.

When we read the New Testament, we understand.  The wisdom of God is not a thing to be possessed.  It is not intelligence quotient, it is not emotional quotient, it is not adversity quotient, it is not even financial quotient.   It has nothing to do with brain power, photographic memory or encyclopedic knowledge or mathematical genius.  It is not cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude or honoris causa. It is not precocity or giftedness.

The Wisdom of God is a person:  Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24).  The wisdom of God is obtained first when we gain the fear of God.  To fear God means to stand in awe and speechlessness at his superior majesty, holiness and power.   The fear of God means the awareness that we stand naked before God, that no argument or justification can excuse us.  The fear of God is to fall on our faces because we cannot stand the brightness of his being.

The Wisdom of God is spiritual discernment: it is the ability bestowed by the Spirit of the Living God for us to distinguish the truth of God from a lie; the ability to distinguish between what pleases God and what does not; the ability to recognize what is approved of God and what is not.

The Wisdom of God is having the mind of Christ.  It is choosing what God wants over and above what we want.  It is dying to oneself and living unto Christ.   It is choosing to do what pleases God more than what pleases us.  It is living for the pleasure of God alone.

The Wisdom of God is coming to the fullness of the stature of Christ. The only way to obtain the wisdom of God is by abiding in a relationship with Christ. This means learning Christ and beholding Christ as though we were looking at his glory in a mirror, the mirror of the revealed wisdom of God in the Scriptures.  Consistently beholding Christ in the Scriptures will little by little change us into the same image as Christ.

The disciples were with Jesus Christ every day for three years.  When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, everywhere they went, people took note that they had been with Jesus.  This means that Jesus Christ’s personality indelibly marked those men with whom he companied.  There is a truth in the saying that we become the company we keep; we are what we read; we are what we think.  If we keep company with Christ on a daily basis, we become Christ-like; we become conformed to the image of Christ.  And Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God.

Do you know the Wisdom of God?  Do you seek the Wisdom of God?  Do you wait for the Wisdom of God?