SAMANTHA ELLEY reflects on what wisdom’s really all about…
Northern Rivers, New South Wales, Australia
Seeking answers? PICTURE: Dylan Gillis/Unsplash
“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
A group of friends from my church love to get together and go to the local pub for their weekly trivia nights.
We even have our own team name – the Trivia Tragics.
“Wisdom is the depth given to the knowledge we learn.”
We often have quite a cross-section of ages and backgrounds on our team, which can help when the questions cover all manner of topics.
As an example, my son has been a big help in those tricky Harry Potter questions, or one friend who is from the Netherlands has helped with some sticky European geography-type answers.
You would think when a Biblical or church-related question has arisen, however, that we would all get it right.
Sad to say, to our embarrassment, that was not often the case. One way to keep us humble.
General knowledge is one thing, but wisdom is something completely different.
Great for a trivia night is the knowledge that the funnel web spider is the deadliest arachnid in Australia, but wisdom will remind you not to handle one.
Wisdom is the depth given to the knowledge we learn.
While our trivia team could do with a bit more Biblical knowledge, I have met many people who can quote Scripture chapter and verse.
I find that impressive as the Bible is a big book with lots of chapters and verses.
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While we learn that stealing is a sin in Exodus 20:15, it takes wisdom to apply that knowledge in the right circumstances.
Sometimes those circumstances are obvious and other times we need wisdom to discern that this may be a situation where we are stealing, whether deliberately or unknowingly.
For those of us who aim to grow in wisdom, becoming more like Jesus wants us to be, it is good to know we only have to ask, as it says in James.
For the right answers in the trivia nights, we may just need to do some good old-fashioned studying.
