O Lord God, the Source of wisdom, truth, and goodness,
How deep are Your riches and wisdom and knowledge, God! How unsearchable are Your judgments and how inscrutable are Your ways (Romans 11:33). Your foolishness is wiser than men, and Your weakness is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25). You are wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom (Isaiah 28:29).
I thank You, Lord, that You do not keep Your wisdom to Yourself. You have been gracious and generous in offering Your unfailing wisdom to me. From Your mouth come knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6).
Yet I have spurned Your wisdom. I have sinned against You and have lived foolishly. I have not looked carefully enough at how I’ve been living my life. I have not made the most of every opportunity that You have provided me. I’ve not used my head and watched my steps. Even though You have revealed Your ways in Your Word, I have not understood Your will.
As a result, my unwise choices have not only hurt me, but have hurt the people around me. I deserve to experience the painful consequences of my ill-advised attitudes and actions.
But You, Lord, are a God of grace. You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ – Wisdom personified – to pay for all my foolish ways. He suffered on the cross in the place of a fool like me. He rose again and became my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). Thank You for this gospel of grace.
So, Lord, help me to be careful how I live. Since these are evil times, help me to make every minute count. Teach me what You want me to do. Save me from being drunk on anything that could distract me from You. Instead, help me to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that I am constantly being guided by Him.
Help me to surround myself with Your wise children. Help me to be in a gospel-saturated community with people who address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, who sing and make melody to You, Lord, with our hearts. I want to live in close proximity with people who always give thanks for everything to You, Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And teach us all how to submit to – to yield to, to honor, to prefer – each other because of our common reverence for Christ. This truly is the way of wisdom.
My Father in heaven, only You can teach me to walk in wisdom. That’s why I give praise to You, the only wise God! To You be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ (Romans 16:27)!
Amen.
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This prayer has been inspired by Ephesians 5:15-21. Some of the words and phrases in this prayer have been taken directly from the English Standard Version, the Amplified Bible, the Contemporary English Version, the J.B. Phillips New Testament, The Message, and the New Living Translation.
