Human wisdom—the wisdom of the world—and the wisdom of God through the knowledge of Christ are mutually exclusive. So, the source of a believer’s wisdom must be God alone, through the knowledge of Christ, by the means of God’s Word.

Last time, I began with an attempt to begin to answer the question, What are we really asking for when we pray for wisdom? We looked at definitions of wisdom, the source of wisdom, and the outcomes of wisdom.

This time, we will look at some examples of praying for wisdom as well as a command to pray for wisdom when we need it.

Examples of Prayers for Wisdom

Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom

We cannot talk about wisdom and praying for wisdom without mentioning Solomon. Solomon had just inherited the throne of the kingdom of Israel from his father, David, when God appeared to him in the night and told Solomon to ask what God should give him. Solomon asked for wisdom:

“You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” (2 Chronicles 1:8-10, ESV).

Solomon asked God to give him the wisdom to fulfill the task God had given him to govern God’s people. God answered his prayer and gave him not only wisdom to rule well, but also a great capacity for knowledge and understanding in many areas of life, including literature, music, and biology:

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men. . . and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees .  . . of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.” (1 Kings 4:29-34, ESV).

First Kings 10 tells of the Queen of Sheba’s breathless reaction to the wisdom she noted in Solomon’s house he built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, their clothing, etc. He was wiser than any other king or wise man. And this wisdom was put into his mind by God.

“Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind” (1 Kings 10:23-24, ESV).

It seems that God gave Solomon a great amount of wisdom about practical things in life, things that would help him rule well and cause him to be esteemed by surrounding nations. And God used his great wisdom to bless and flourish the kingdom of Israel. But Solomon in his old age deviated from true wisdom when he disobeyed and turned from the Lord. Along with his increase in wisdom, he accumulated wealth, a great number of horses and chariots (forbidden by God for Israel’s kings in Deuteronomy 17), and many foreign women who turned his heart away from the Lord (cf. 1 Kings 11).

In Solomon, we see an example of God answering a prayer to give wisdom. God seemed to give an extraordinary amount of wisdom and capacity for knowledge to Solomon in order to help him fulfill his God-given role. But we can also learn from his example that simple knowledge and “wisdom of the world” is not enough. If these things are not tied to obedience and faithfulness, they prove themselves to be empty (Solomon himself noted this in his old age when he wrote Ecclesiastes; cf. Eccl 1:12-18.). In the end, Solomon summarized what true wisdom really looked like:

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, ESV).

Paul’s Prayers for Wisdom for Believers

Paul prayed that the Ephesians would have wisdom in the knowledge of Christ:

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