Get Wisdom by Reading Proverbs Daily

 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

James 1:5

Have you ever lacked wisdom? I sure have (and do).

Whether it is personally, relationally, or situationally, we all lack wisdom in various areas of life. That isn’t to say we don’t have any wisdom at all because experience in life helps in that area. However, we still lack wisdom and can use more of it on a daily and ongoing basis.

It says in James 1:5 that if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. One of my favorite characteristics of God is that He is relational. We can go directly to Him and ask Him for wisdom and anything else we need. But this doesn’t work with a “give me, give me” attitude, for that will never lead to satisfaction (Proverbs 30:15).

Instead, in our relationship with God, we can be confident that He already knows what we need even before we ask it (Matthew 6:8). Even though He already knows, it still behooves us to ask Him because we’re in a relationship with Him. This creates a reciprocation where He, too, can ask things of us and entrust us to steward His Word and obey Him.

When it comes to wisdom, one of the best ways we can obtain godly and spiritual wisdom is by studying God’s Word. This isn’t just knowledge-based studying where we collect fun facts about the Bible, but actually study to know more about God and the life we now have in Jesus Christ. As we study and pursue knowledge of the Holy One (Proverbs 9:10), we gain insight for our new life in Him, spiritual wisdom, and revelation from the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth and helps us every day (John 14:26, 16:13).

Wisdom is something we should constantly obtain throughout our lives. There’s no destination in wisdom. If there was, we wouldn’t be human and we wouldn’t need God. Proverbs 25:2 says, It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. Searching matters out and asking questions is part of our human nature, and it is our honor (or glory, as some translations say) to search things out. We get wisdom from doing so.

Proverbs is one of the Wisdom books in the Bible. Most of its proverbs were written by King Solomon Himself, who did us a great service by asking God for wisdom in 2 Chronicles 1:10 and collecting these proverbs which we can now access in the Bible. The Bible is one of God’s ways of giving wisdom to us. Although the Bible’s historical and cultural contexts don’t always make sense to us, it’s still important to continue reading and studying it to know God more.

Several years ago, I challenged myself to read one chapter from the book of Proverbs every day of the month for twelve months. Each month, I changed the translation of the Bible. From King James, English Standard, New American, the Russian translation (I’m Russian), and even the Passion translation, I went through twelve different versions for an entire year! With every translation, there were newfound golden nuggets of wisdom that changed my life for the better.

To this day, part of my Bible reading plan always contains one chapter from Proverbs. Even if I miss a day or two, I keep going with chapters that correlate to the day’s date and jot down at least one verse to meditate on. I’m so grateful for this kind of access to wisdom! Because every time I re-read Proverbs (or other books of the Bible), and no matter how many times I read the same passage, I learn new things and gain new angles and perspectives.

One of my favorite commentaries has a quote which says, If true wisdom can be simply gained by human effort, energy, and ingenuity (like the rare and precious metals of the earth), then the fear of the LORD is not essential to obtaining wisdom. But if it comes from God’s revelation, then right relationship with Him is the key to wisdom.

Our relationship with God is a step towards wisdom. When we turn to Him for every single thing, He extends His hand and helps. He provides, comforts, loves, and gives us peace beyond all understanding. If you don’t have a relationship with Him, maybe reading through Proverbs can help jumpstart that.

The beauty about reading Proverbs for 31 days is we can start and pause at anytime. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs which can correlate to the days in a month. If we skip or miss a day, we can go on to the next chapter the next day, and come around to the missed chapter next month (or sooner if we want to). I would also extend the challenge of reading through multiple translations for a year, but that takes commitment! So, at least start small and try reading one chapter for 31 days first.

You can come back to this post and click on this link to find more posts about Proverbs. When able to, I will provide insights, perspectives, and revelations on specific chapters based on the day of the month.

Take the challenge, you won’t be disappointed! 

5 Reading Tips:

1. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth before you start reading. It can be as simple as that: “Holy Spirit, lead me in truth as I read through this chapter today.”
2. If you miss a day, meditate on what you read last time and how you can be more diligent in reading next time. Move on to the next chapter the next day or whenever you can.
3. While reading the chapter, highlight or mark the verses that stand out to you. Choose a writing utensil to highlight, mark, or write what stands out for you. It could be specific verses, themes, or topics throughout that chapter. Just be sure to take at least one thing to meditate on. 
4. Take a few moments to meditate on these verses and ask yourself and God why they stood out to you, and if you have time, write about your experience. 
5. Take this wisdom into your day – throughout the day, think back to these verses and reflect on them. 

REMINDER: You can come back to this post and click on this link to find more posts about Proverbs. I will provide insights, perspectives, and revelations on specific chapters based on the day of the month when I am able to do so. You can also subscribe to get these posts in your inbox. 

I can’t wait to hear about the wisdom God gives you!

Comment your favorite chapter or verse from Proverbs and let me know if you’re doing this challenge!