Knowledge is knowing about things.
Wisdom is knowing what to do with that knowledge.
There is a difference between having knowledge and having wisdom. They are very closely linked, but the difference has to do with action. When you have knowledge, you know something, you have facts, you have the instructions to handle a task. When you have wisdom, you know what to do with those facts.
You can google how to fly a plane and have all the facts down pat. You can learn about thrust and wind shear and which button to push to make the plane go. But knowing those facts, telling someone everything you’ve learned about flying a plane, and actually flying a plane….are two very different things!
It takes wisdom to know that just because you’ve read about it, you can’t just jump in a plane and fly it to Hawaii. Wisdom allows you to decide if visibility is too cloudy to land without listening to the control tower as they guide you in. Wisdom is ensuring you have enough gas to get you from point A to point B. Wisdom is putting your knowledge to good use.
Genesis 6:22 – So Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to have someone describe me that way? That I did everything EXACTLY as God commanded? That I had both the knowledge and the wisdom to follow the instructions that God laid out for me?
Noah and God spoke to each other daily. Noah had physical conversations with God. God gave Noah very specific and explicit instructions and details about how to build the ark. So how could he NOT do it exactly the way God planned?
Sometimes, I think Noah had an unfair advantage. He was able to talk directly to God about things. They had a face to face relationship. Noah received the knowledge of how to build that huge boat from God. I mean, even down to measurements, where to put the windows and doors and what type of material to use!
Noah also had the wisdom to know that God was serious about His reasons behind Noah building the boat. He didn’t ask questions. He had the wisdom to know that God would help him and do exactly what He said He would. God gave him the blueprints and Noah had the wisdom to be obedient.
Sometimes I just want the specific, spelled out, turn-by-turn directions of what to do and where to go with my life. I want a rolled up blueprint that’s already been stamped “approved” that I can follow line by line. I don’t want to feel like I’m guessing as to what God wants from me.
But I wonder if God has already supplied the tools to get the knowledge needed to live the life he has planned for me? What if the instructions are there and its more about the fact that I just want different instructions?
God created us as creatures with the ability to choose. We have the choice to just keep collecting knowledge rather than putting it into action. We can choose, every day, if we will sit in our foxhole knowing how to gain the edge over the enemy yet not move or if we will use that knowledge, take into account all that we’ve learned both by discipline and experience, put it into action and wisely leave the foxhole so we can be victorious!
The reality is, we have the same tools that Noah did, we just don’t use them: Prayer (our conversation with God) and the Bible (His conversation with us).He gave us knowledge by providing His very words in the Bible. And He gave us wisdom by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is the instruction book and the Holy Spirit is the one that gives us the wisdom to put that knowledge into practice.
My pastor put into words so perfectly the idea of using knowledge to gain the wisdom I need to live the life God has planned for me, using the acronym “PEST”:
Pray spirit led prayers
Eliminate unbiblical options
Seek godly support
Trust Jesus’ way is the best
The instructions are already there. The blueprint has been created, and stamped “approved” with the blood of Jesus. I have been created to use the knowledge God gives me as I study His word to live a life of wisdom! To live a life that is a daily example of love and hope and encouragement for others to follow!
