If You Lack Wisdom ...

​One of my favorite Bible stories is God asking Solomon, "What shall I give thee?" I find great encouragement in Solomon’s answer: "I know not how to go out or come in. . . . Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad." I have often told God that I may not need wisdom to guide a nation, but I do need it to guide my own steps and those of my household! This has not been a prayer I have prayed once or twice, but an earnest prayer, prayed MANY times.
 
I believe James knew when he wrote, "if you lack wisdom," that all of us greatly need wisdom, not only the understanding of deep spiritual truths but that discernment for daily living. How do we get it? One writer said: “It is not dropping down on your knees for two minutes in a morning, before you hurry out to business . . . or praying after you have gone to bed at night, and perhaps falling asleep before you get to 'Amen.' It is not asking, and then not waiting long enough to get the answer. It is not a faint and feeble desire, but one presented with PATIENT PERSISTENCE."
 
The rest of the verse tells me what God will do when I realize my lack of wisdom and ask Him earnestly and persistently: "it shall be given."