Two Characteristics of wise people
# 1 - They hear the call of wisdom, and respond
Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
(Proverbs 8:1-6)
We read here in Proverbs, written by the wisest man that ever lived up to his time, that wisdom calls out to everyone and requests that they stop and listen to the words she so clearly wants us to hear. The type of wisdom she wants to give is not only for those that are intelectuals but also for the simple minded and foolish people. The cry is to be of an "understanding heart" or to mentally listen to the words that wisdom has to say. Wisdom, as we have said before, is the Godly use of knowledge. When it says "I will speak of excellent things" it is a military wording for a command or direction. So we see that taking time to hear what wisdom has to say will give us not only the knowledge of what is right and wrong, but will also give us the direction to take to do the right thing.
We have all been in the place where we know what the right thing to do is, but for some reason, we find it difficult to actually get it done. If only we knew where to start or how to approach the situation and accomplish Gods will in it. This is when it is most important to stop and listen to what the Word of God, our source of wisdom, has to say.
# 2 - They pray for wisdom
Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?
(2 Chronicles 1:10)
This prayer of Solomon proved that he already posessed a certain measure of wisdom to begin with. And he used what little wisdom he had to ask God for the one thing he knew he would need to judge the people justly, and that was wisdom and knowledge. The two would be necessary in understanding the struggles of the people, judging righteously, deciding when to go to war and when not to, and managing the wealth of the kingdom. Another thing to notice is that Solomon did not demand wisdom from God, but respectfully requested it after being asked what it was that he wanted by God. This was after a very intense time of worship and sacrifice. Do you want wisdom and knowledge? Have you asked God for it? If you have, how did you do it? Was it two minutes before the exam you didn't study for until this morning? Was it moments before you walked in the door twenty minutes late, knowing you had not called to let someone know where you were? Was it just before you approached your boss about something you saw done in the workplace that was completely unethical and against what you know to be right? While God may grant you what you need in those instances on occasion, He will not always bail you out last minute. He wants our desire to not only be for wisdom just when we need it, but wisdom at all times so that no matte what it is we are doing, we have the mind of Christ at our disposal and we are ready to give an answer without dropping to our knees in those last moments and 'hoping' we get the wisdom we so desperately need.
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