Let me tell you about my job.

I build control systems. A control system is just a computer system that allows you to have an overview of some other system: it gathers information about what state your traffic lights are in; it shows you where your trains are; it gives you a ‘big picture’ of what state all your equipment is in. And, having this big picture, you are able to make decisions, and implement plans: that train is running late, so we will let this one through ahead of it; the generator has been running for too long, so we should swap over to the backup; the electronic road sign is faulty, so we should send someone to repair it.

For many Christians, this is the picture they have of wisdom. They desire wisdom because they believe that it will help them to understand the big picture, and to act accordingly. This is an attractive idea, of course, because it lets us fool ourselves into believing that we can have control over our lives, if only we have enough wisdom.

But I don’t believe that this is what the Bible teaches about wisdom at all.

Respected theologian J. I. Packer, in his book Knowing God, describes wisdom as like learning to drive a car. You don’t need to know why there is a car parked in your lane, or why the driver in front of you is braking; you just need to know how to respond correctly to those situations.

The fact is that, as we go through life, we will not understand everything that happens, nor will we have the ‘big picture’. We have to trust God for those things. Instead, if we are to be wise, we must learn how to respond to the problems, situations and obstacles in our path in a wise, godly way. That’s what wisdom is.

How do we become wise? Well, drivers have instructors, and so do we.

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth… All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

- John 14:15-17, 25-26

Jesus promised that, even though he was going away, he would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us, in order that he might teach us all things. The Holy Spirit teaches us and reminds us of all the things that Jesus has said… and this is what leads to wisdom. If you like, the Bible is our road rules manual, whilst the Spirit is the one who instructs us how those rules apply in our current situation. The only difference is that our instructor promises to stay with us always.