When Wisdom doesn't mean what we think it means

We use the word “wisdom” quite often, usually to describe someone who knows more, someone with experience, someone who can give the right advice at the right time but when Scripture uses that word, it seems to be pointing to something else entirely and if we are not careful, we may end up reading the right word with the wrong understanding.

For a long time, I thought wisdom meant having clarity, having answers, or knowing what to do in a given situation. It felt like something you gained over time, something that came with learning and experience.

But when I began to look more closely at how the Bible uses the word, especially in the life of Solomon, something started to shift.

When Solomon is given the opportunity to ask God for anything, we are always taught that he did not ask for riches or honour neither for good health but he asked for wisdom to handle the people that God made him to rule over but there is more to this than just wisdom.

If you are an avid student of the scripture, you will see that in 1 Kings 3, the Bible says Solomon asked for an hearing heart and that is what God calls wisdom.

That made me pause.

Because it means wisdom does not begin with knowing. It begins with listening.

Scripture often connects wisdom with the fear of the Lord. Not fear in the sense of being afraid, but a posture of reverence, a positioning of the heart that is rightly aligned before God. In that sense, wisdom is not something we achieve but rather something we receive when we are rightly positioned.

And then comes a moment that brings this to life in a very practical way.

Two women stand before Solomon, each claiming the same child. At first, it appears to be a matter of facts, something that needs to be figured out but Solomon is not just listening to what is being said. He is listening deeper.

One woman says, “My son lives, and your son is dead.”

The other responds, “No, your son is dead, and my son is the living one.”

At first glance, both are saying the same thing, just in reverse.

But there is something subtle which is, the first mother speaks of life first while the second one begins with accusation. It is a small detail, easy to miss but perhaps it reveals something deeper.

Scripture says that out of the abundance of heart, the mouth speaks, so what comes first often reflects what is central. As the situation unfolds, that inner posture becomes fully visible, when Solomon proposes to divide the child, the real mother is willing to let go, if it means the child will live while the other one is willing to divide, even if it means destruction.

And suddenly, what was hidden becomes clear.

This is what a hearing heart does. It does not just process information but it discerns what lies beneath and that made me reflect on my own life.

1. How often do I try to be wise by thinking more, analyzing more, or trying to arrive at the right answer?

2. How often do I rush to conclusions instead of pausing to listen?

Maybe wisdom is not about figuring everything out but it is about being aligned with the One who already knows because it is possible to have right information and still miss what matters. It is possible to hear words and yet not truly listen.

Solomon’s wisdom was not in his ability to decide but it was in his ability to discern and that began with a heart that was willing to listen.

Perhaps that is where wisdom still begins today, not in having answers, but in learning how to listen, not in knowing more, but in being rightly aligned.

Maybe the issue is not that we do not know what to do, it is that we have been trying to define wisdom, without first learning how to listen to Him.