Episode 8: How to Gain Wisdom

Join Daniel and Anna as they discuss How to Gain Wisdom.

Transcript

Jacey Grace 0:02

You're listening to the Spare Office Podcast hosted by the Cross Point Student Staff.

Trace 0:09

Welcome back to the Spare Office Podcast. I'm Daniel.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

And I'm Anna.

Trace 0:15

And we are two student staff people at Cross Point Church, and we're excited to be back for another episode of the Spare Office Podcast. This is episode two of season two. And uh before we get into our topic of conversation, um, Anna, what's going on in our student ministry right now?

SPEAKER_03 0:35

I have no idea. No, we're about to have a big summer blowout.

Trace 0:42

I knew that was COVID.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Yeah.

Trace 0:45

Big summer blowout. And then we have Fuge coming up as well, Fuge Camp. Um, two things that we've been doing for several years now, and we're always real excited for those uh two events. Our big summer blowout is it's our um outreach that we do for the spring and summer and uh a great opportunity for us to see a lot of students who may never walk through the doors of our church, but they come and hang out with that and um have a lot of fun outside and have a dunking booth this year and all kinds of fun things. So it's a great time. Um but as we go into this episode, uh, we want to talk to you and continuing to talk about wisdom. Uh last week we all four of us were on the podcast, and this week it's more of a one-on-one conversation, and we want to talk to you uh more about how to gain wisdom. So that's really where we're gonna go this week. And as a reminder, we have not done any kind of dry run or anything like that. This is a uh off-the-cuff conversation about what it means to gain wisdom. We have a few of our own personal notes here, but other than that, it's it's very much let's see what happens kind of a thing. Um, so I was actually thinking about this, Anna, um before we started recording, just before we started recording, about a time in my life that I would say that I gained wisdom, a time like a story or a circumstance. Um and I've thought about a few different things, and I think we're gonna kind of cover some of those topics. But do you have a time that you could think of in your own life when you feel like it was a s some type of like difficult season that you went through, or um something that you learned from your parents that just stuck with you, or maybe um, you know, I'm I don't know. Something in your in your life where you felt like you really were able to look back and see and see where you you gained a lot of wisdom from that season.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Um I have a lot of those seasons. I think uh on the last podcast I talked a little about a bit, heybe do a little bit about being sick when I was in high school. Um, so I won't go back into that. Um, but that was definitely a time where I became a lot wiser than I was. Um and then I think in just decision making in my life, I've become wiser, um, learning how to trust the Lord in those things. Um especially making decisions that are not like a black and white decision. It's like, okay, they're both God glorifying decisions. So how do I decipher which one I should do? Because there was no real like right or wrong answer to that. Um so the Lord teaching me wisdom through decisions that were not easy, yeah, I guess.

Trace 3:47

Right. Yeah, and we're actually gonna have an entire episode that really goes deeper into what you just what you just mentioned. And I think that's something that a lot of times we um might have a tendency to not even realize that the reason I think that God leads us to those uh crossroads in our life is to cause us to really lean on Him and to learn how to gain wisdom. Um, but you know, one of the things that we want to talk about with this episode right now is this idea of like gaining wisdom might seem like um a mysterious thing. Like, how do I go about gaining wisdom from God? And the answer might seem too simple to you. You ask for it. And I I mean, when we really think about what we see and and learn in the Bible, it really is it's that simple. Where it was simply something that was requested from God. Um we see the example of Solomon, which I think is the most the most well-known um example that we could think about. Solomon is he's having a dream and God approaches him. And uh when God approaches him, he basically tells Solomon, Ask me for anything that you desire. And instead of asking for fame, or instead of asking for a lot of wealth or a lasting legacy, he asked for wisdom. And it says in verse 10 of 1 Kings chapter 3, the Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, Since you have asked for this, and not for a long life or wealth or yours um for yourself, nor have you asked for the death of your enemies, but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. And I think that obviously what we see there is that God honors and delights when we ask for something like wisdom. Um there's plenty of other verses, but to just kind of talk about that for a moment, you know, I think that something that we see happening there with Solomon is he's a king. And I think we know a lot of times in God's word that kings are very selfish and they're very me focused. And so I just find it really um amazing that that's what Solomon desires is not for something for his own glory, but something that's gonna help him be a better leader. Any thoughts?

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Um, I think I focused a lot uh on James chapter one, verse five, and I think it goes through a couple verses, but I'll just read five. Uh well now I'll read five and six. Yep, I think we'll see where it goes. Um if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. So just saying if you want to be wise, just ask God. Yeah. And it doesn't say like ask God and then he'll let you know. It says he's generous and he'll give it to you. You know, and then um further in that, it's not like we ask God and then we have faith. We trust, we don't doubt. So it's not like we've got to go through this list of things in order to become wise. We simply ask God and trust that He will help us gain wisdom.

Trace 7:40

Yeah, and you mentioned the word doubt there. You know, I think he talks about in James, in that same chapter, where when we ask with doubt, that's like looking at yourself in a mirror and then immediately turning away and forgetting what you looked like. And then also where he talks about when we ask with doubt, it's it's the idea of being tossed around like the ways of the sea. There's no foundation if we have doubt. And so the faith that you're referring to is the foundation that we have to have to stand on when we ask.

SPEAKER_03 8:14

Right. And it's like if we're gonna trust God, we have to trust him fully, but when we doubt, that's us trusting ourselves, thinking that there's something that we can do in order to gain this wisdom or do whatever it is. Like we're when we're doubting, we're turning back to ourselves. We're not just we're doubting God in a sense. Yeah. Does that make sense?

Trace 8:36

Yeah. Which is silly when we think about it. And and I I know for a fact that there have been times where I've doubted God. And you know, this is one of the things that makes him such a such an awesome God is that despite our doubt, and the times that I've doubted him, he still shows up and delivers and is faithful. And he loves me despite my doubt. Where, you know, if he was an earthly father, he he could potentially say, Well, because you've doubted me, I'm not gonna do for you what you need for me to do. Um and I think that's something worth can worth making note of that when we ask in wisdom or ask for wisdom, even when we do have a little bit of doubt in our heart, God is still faithful to give us what we need even when we don't deserve it. Um I mean, I think about even where I am right now, um, sitting here as um the student minister uh at Cross Point Church and having an awesome team um that we all get to work together and do the things that we do. I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve to be um in the position that I'm in to have the influence that I have, but God's he's blessed me with it anyway. Um and I think that over time he's given me what I've needed when I needed it to be the leader that he's called me and us all to be.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Um something else is that's part of the like asking for it and waiting for it, if you will. Like that's the trusting and not doubting, because a lot of the times we live in this like microwave culture where um I think I told this to my eighth grade girls a couple weeks ago. If you get a bag of chicken tenders and you turn it over to cook them, the instructions there's two options the microwave of the oven, and the oven always takes longer because you got a pretty oven, then it takes like 20 minutes, or you can put it in the microwave and it's like five minutes, but they're always not as good.

Trace 10:44

They're rubbery, right? So you also rubbery wisdom.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

That's what I'm saying. So sometimes like we expect God to microwave the answers and get us the answer quickly because that's just what we want and what we think. But in reality, like the trusting takes time. Um, and we can't doubt in that time just because God's timing is different than ours, that shouldn't make us doubt. It should we should trust.

Trace 11:09

That's easy to say, obviously, but yeah, and I think that when we when we do uh allow for time to pass by, when we allow the process to go according to God's plan, not our own, we always come out on the other side better for it.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Right.

Trace 11:28

Um, and and we wisdom's a hard thing to measure because it's not like you can look at somebody and go, oh, look at all the wisdom on them. I mean, they a person who is, you know, wise beyond their years, as they say, might not look wise, but you don't really know that until they start to open their mouth and speak.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Right.

Trace 11:46

Uh there's so many proverbs that talk about wisdom. So many. I I do have one here that I wanted to mention, Proverbs 13, 10. Um, it says arrogance leads to nothing but strife, but wisdom is gained by those who take advice. And I think taking advice is also really hard to do sometimes, um, especially for the arrogant, because a lot of times we like to think that we've got it figured out. Um, students, uh, I know that's one of the hardest things about being a teenager is you become eager to know how to live this life, to know how to, you know, be independent and do things on your own and make it in this life and move off to school and do all those things. And there does come a time where you kind of begin to think that you've got it all figured out, and you begin to think that you don't need your parents as much as you, as maybe you do. But then the difficulties of life hit again, and we realize, like, oh, maybe I maybe I wasn't quite ready for this one. And that's where I think this proverb comes into play, where when we are arrogant and think we got it all figured out, that leads to strife, it leads to conflict, it leads to difficulty in life. But those who are humble and able to take advice um gain wisdom because they recognize I don't have it figured out, and I need the help of others who have gone before me or who further along down the road to help me through this. Um other thought that I had um kind of before we start to wrap up this episode is where wisdom is gained by our circumstances. And I know we've we've already kind of touched on this a little bit. Um, I know you mentioned um about decisions that had to be made in life and things of that nature. And sometimes our circumstances are self-inflicted, and sometimes our circumstances are just a result of life in general. Um, a lot of times our circumstances are things that happen to us. Um I believe that wisdom is tested in our circumstances, whereas basically what that what that means is like when your circumstances come up, especially when something negative happens in your life, you begin to see what you're really made of. And either you're gonna panic and you're gonna assume that the world is crashing around you, or wisdom is the ability to to take a step back, to take a deep breath and to go, okay, uh, I still know God's in control, and I still know that that you know I'm I'm in his hands, and I'm just gonna wait and see how he leads me through this, as opposed to freaking out, panicking, and trying to all of a sudden start to quarterback everything on your own. Um how how would you go about taking a step back i if those circumstances happen? Because I know uh Anna, you're you're newly married, sort of. How long now have you guys been married? Coming up in two yeah, wow, coming up on two years. Um and and in that two years, life hasn't always been peachy. Um you guys have had unforeseen circumstances happening in your own lives. How have you guys been able to take a step back when circumstances have become difficult, when things unforeseen have stepped into your life all of a sudden? What what have you and Juan done in your marriage to go, okay, hang on, let's let's take a step back and see what God's trying to teach us right now?

SPEAKER_03 15:24

I definitely think that in those moments, that's where you take, I think we talked about this in the last episode too. Like it becomes more than just a understanding or a knowledge. It it becomes well, it becomes hold on. It's not just a informational, I know the facts. It's more of an understanding, and the understanding comes through application, and application turns into wisdom. So, like in those difficult moments of um, which y'all, if you're not already grown, you're you're gonna grow up one day and you're gonna have to pay bills, and you're gonna think, yeah, I've got enough money to pay the bills and um eat and do all this and buy the things on Amazon, whatever. And then all of a sudden you're gonna get in your car and a funny little light's gonna come on, and then you're gonna be like, oh my gosh. And you're gonna think, This is just it's fine, it's gonna go off, and then you're gonna go get it looked at, and they're gonna be like, Yeah, it's this, it's gonna cost a million dollars.

Trace 16:29

Not really, but like your transmission needs to be rebuilt.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Low, literally, like $300, and then you're like, Oh my gosh, okay, I guess we can manage that. And then you turn around and not speaking from any experience, but you go to get a suitcase and there's a ceiling tile down because shower's leaking through the floor, like just things like that, and you're like, What the heck? I did not prepare for this. Yeah. And in those moments, like you're looking straight at it, and you're like, I don't know how this is gonna turn out. I don't know how this is gonna work. Like, there's just not money in the bank account for that, or like it just it just seems quite literally impossible.

Trace 17:05

Um and sometimes never ending.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

No, no, as soon as I've told somebody this the other day, as soon as you get it figured out, it's just gonna happen again. So just don't get too comfy. Um, but like I I think in those moments I've noticed in my life and in my marriage and Juan's life, whatever. In those moments of the freak out, one of us is telling the other, hey, it's gonna be okay. It the Lord is gonna provide. And we sing that so much, we see that in scripture so much, we hear that so much, the Lord will provide. Okay, I get it. And you know, look at the birds, look at the flowers. Okay, but I got some this is not just a bird and a flower situation here. There's a lot going on. So, how how is the Lord gonna provide? But in those moments, just it's as it's as simple as asking the Lord for wisdom. Yeah, trust that the Lord will provide, and He always does. We don't have the answers, but somehow He always provides. And I think in that moment of waiting and trusting and getting through that, then that's when it's like applied. That's when you okay, my faith, I'm there's action to the faith.

Trace 18:22

I think I I'm I'm kind of thinking about go and ask God for wisdom in the same way that when something happens, um, you know, my my kids ask me for help with different things all the time. You know, they're trying to watch something on TV and it's on the wrong input. And they're like, Dad, um, we're getting all the little ants running across the TV. What do I do? And I'll go and I'll help them fix it. And and I always try to show them, well, here's how you do this, so that next time it does that, you'll know how to do it as well. They're asking me for help when they have a problem, big or small. And that's what we've got to do with God. We ask him for help, and then we trust that as a loving father, he's gonna tell us what we need and how to fix it. Right. And sometimes what we need is, and scripture talks about this, be still and know that he is God, right? Sometimes what we need is just to simply be still, chill out, and and see how he's gonna provide for us.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

Right. And I like how you said big or small, because I think sometimes without even knowing it, we may consider wisdom to be one of the small things that we don't need answer for. Like the example I just gave about money in the bank account, that seems like a big thing in that moment, or you know, making a a serious decision, where am I gonna go to college or who am I gonna marry or all the life decisions? Like these things seem big. Or when someone is struggling or suffering, maybe it's you or your family or friends, those things seem big and those things, those things seem like the things that we should bring before the Lord, but it's not just that. Like it's it's those things, but also simply asking the Lord, can you help me to trust you? Yeah, can you give me more wisdom? Can you help me to understand? So big or small, he's gonna take care of it of it all.

Trace 20:07

Yeah. Ooh, that rhymed. It did. I like that. Um, one final thought. Okay. We got to know the difference between heavenly kingdom wisdom and worldly wisdom. We have to. Because if we're seeking advice from the world, it will give it. The world will give us advice. But we've got to recognize when the world's advice is coming into our minds. And the way that we do that is by asking the question, does this line up with scripture? Does this line up with God's word? And if it doesn't seem to fit, or if it seems like it's a little bit off, that's I think that's the Holy Spirit inside going, hey, tread carefully. Or that's the Holy Spirit saying, reject it completely. You know, one or the other. Um, we got to know the difference because if we don't know the difference between those two, the world is gonna be a whole lot louder than anything else. And we're gonna seek worldly wisdom first. And I think the main reason we're gonna do that is because it's it's a lot easier to get. Because all you got to do is scroll TikTok long enough and you'll find worldly wisdom instead of opening up God's word, spending time in prayer, being patient, trusting, listening quietly, doing the things that God calls us to do, where the world's just like, hey, you know, just scroll tick tock long enough and you'll find something that'll help you.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

Right. That's the instant thing.

Trace 21:24

Right, exactly. Yeah, that rubber chicken. That's exactly what that is. So we got to know the difference between, and I think we're gonna come across that a lot throughout this podcast this season is the difference between kingdom wisdom and worldly wisdom. There is plenty of worldly wisdom to be gained. Um, and maybe not all of it's completely bad, but I do think that that if we're only looking to the world for wisdom, we're gonna find ourselves very disappointed in in the result. For sure. Because most of the time worldly wisdom is self-centered and not God-centered.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Yeah, focused on what we can do.

Trace 21:57

That's right. Yeah, and it goes right back to Solomon when God said, Tell me, ask for anything that you need. Solomon could have asked for selfish things, but he didn't. Right. He asked for wisdom and and good judgment in order to be able to lead his people. And that's what we gotta be willing to do as well.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

So for like a practical way, if people are like me that kind of need a little list, because even though, you know, simply ask and the Lord will give you wisdom, okay, that's good. But like, how do you think like the practical, what would you think the practical steps of that look like, if that makes sense?

Trace 22:32

You're asking me?

SPEAKER_03 22:33

I am.

Trace 22:33

Okay. Um I I think the practical, well, I mean, I think it starts with this is almost cliche. It starts with being in God's word on a regular basis, putting yourself in a position to be able to be exposed to wisdom. Like one of the things for me, like knowing that we were going to be recording this podcast, I've been thinking a lot about okay, we got to have some content to teach and to talk and to communicate. So I've been kind of reading the Bible through the filter of God, show me wisdom in your word.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Yeah.

Trace 23:03

And man, it's just like popping out everywhere. Um, and so I think reading the Bible, but then also like seeking wise counsel from people that you can trust. Yes, that's definitely um on the list. Uh I I gotta go to people who I know, they know the Lord, and they're further along in their journey with Christ than I am, and they can help me with this. And then I would say the third thing, maybe not necessarily in that order, I we I gotta pray. Like I got to. I gotta stop and actually say, God, give me wisdom. And I mean that would be our prayer for you guys too, that you would engage in prayer through this, through through hearing this. It's not just as simple as ask and be done with it. It's as simple, it's it's ask regularly. Yeah. You know, keep asking until the Lord shows you that he's answered that prayer. And then when he does that, keep praying and and thank him for how he's already answered and and um continue to to ask him to take you deeper in that understanding of wisdom and knowledge.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

Right. We'll never have all of the wisdom. So it's like expecting the Lord to do something in one prayer. No, we we gain the wisdom, but we're not at the end yet. We've got to continue to ask him.

Trace 24:12

Yeah, that's good. All right. Well, this has been, I think, very uh fruitful conversation, and and uh we hope that you guys will find um a lot of benefit from this. We hope that it helps you in your current station in life, no matter where you are as a student or a parent, sixth grader through, you know, emptiness or we don't care. Um we we hope that it's beneficial to you. Um and uh we hope that you come back for more episodes of uh the spare office podcast. But until then, uh we will see you guys soon.

Jacey Grace 24:42

Adios. You've been listening to the Spare Office Podcast hosted by the Cross Point Student Staff. We would love to hear your feedback and questions so you can contact us on Instagram at cp students underscore info or on Facebook at CrossPoint Students. Again, thank you for listening to this episode of the Spare Office Podcast.