Throughout Scripture, the promises of wisdom are not in any way hard to find. Time and time again, the Bible praises the wise and details the laundry list of blessings that come to those who find and hold fast to wisdom. For example, Proverbs 3 says,
“Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. [...] She offers you long life in her right hand, and riches and honor in her left. She will guide you down delightful paths; all her was are satisfying. Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold tightly to her.” (NLT, Proverbs 3:13, 16-18)
These benefits are further reinforced as positive consequences of wisdom in the story of King Solomon, the wisest person to ever have lived. When Solomon asks for wisdom instead of fame or riches, the Lord says to him, “Because you have not asked for long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you have asked for! [...] And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame!” (NLT, 1 Kings 3:11,13). God makes it clear that when we seek wisdom and apply it in our daily lives, He will faithfully show us the benefits that accompany it.
However, a paradox exists in the correlation of wisdom and rewards that is often overlooked—at least in my own personal life. I know that I need to operate out of wisdom and understanding. But I forget that I will be in capital T-Trouble when I do not stay under the larger umbrella of God’s knowledge and leading. We need to have wisdom and understanding, yet we are not to lean on that wisdom apart from God. Even good wisdom can become a snare when we believe that is all we need. When we do not lean on the Lord, we inflate our own ability to make good decisions and ultimately put trust in a false sense of security. Ironically, we trust the decision-making of a person who's every fault, shortcoming, and inconsistency we know intimately instead of the One whose perfection, goodness, and worthiness we can also know intimately.
It is very easy to move from working out of God’s understanding to working out of our own, which makes it so important to examine ourselves. If we recognize that we are relying on our own wisdom instead of the Lord’s, we can make a change in our intentionality and pursuit of God’s truth. It is challenging to evaluate on whose wisdom we are standing, but the blessings in doing so are innumerable.