Do you have wisdom that is sought out and heeded by your team? (147-2)

Like the old E. F. Hutton commercial, when a leader gains a reputation for having wisdom, people listen. Read Ecclesiastes 9:17.

Wisdom is elusive, and often seems to be in short supply among leaders. Some leaders are well-informed, some highly educated, crafty, or shrewd but few manifest the quiet depth of true wisdom. The fact that wisdom is not widespread among leaders is tied directly to human pride. Leaders are bent to find wisdom on their own, they assume it comes with age and experience or they feel that completing certain types of tasks, or specific courses of study is their way to wisdom but these are tied to human effort. According to James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him,” God is the source of wisdom.

Just a few verses from the Bible to assist a leader who is truly seeking to become wise:

• Job 28:23-28 says, “God understands the way to it (wisdom) and He alone knows where it dwells, for He views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When He established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when He made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then He looked at wisdom and appraised it; He confirmed it and tested it. And He said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’”
• Proverbs 1:7tlb “How does a man become wise? The first step is to trust and reverence the Lord!”
• Proverbs 9:10tlb “For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding.”

In a society where even Christian leaders tend to view God as their “good buddy” or as a divine vending machine, i.e. put in your prayer and out comes your answer just as you ordered; fear and reverence are strange words. Potentially this casual attitude toward the sovereignty of God is part of the reason wisdom is so elusive and not widespread.

Do you have the reputation for the kind of wisdom Solomon described in Ecclesiastes 9:17 where even your quiet words are sought out and heeded by your team? For Christian leaders who are seeking that kind of reputation for wisdom the first step is to examine their relationship with God. The second step is to follow the instructions you read earlier from James 1:5.