Pastor Nick Gatzke

Everybody wants to be good at something. Maybe you hope to be successful in business, sports, your hobbies, or parenting. But are you good at life? Do you know someone who seems to navigate every twist and turn of it while staying steady on their feet? That’s not luck. That’s wisdom, and the Bible has much to say about it.

Wisdom is the capacity to judge matters rightly and then act on them. It’s putting knowledge into practice. It’s being skilled at living. Scripture traces this theme from Genesis to Jesus, showing us that wisdom doesn’t start with us at all. It starts with God.

Before the Mountains Were Shaped

Proverbs 8 pictures wisdom as a person, speaking in the first person, and delighting in the world God made. “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old… before the mountains had been shaped… when he established the heavens, I was there… I was daily his delight,” wisdom says (Proverbs 8:22–30). Nothing about creation was haphazard. God ordered the stars, the seas, and the seasons of history with perfect wisdom, which is why Proverbs 3:19 can say, plainly, “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth.”

Nothing You Can Hide

I heard once about a man who scraped a parked Corvette while pulling into a space. He knew people were watching, so he got out, pulled a notepad from his glovebox, and wrote a note. It read: “The people watching think I’m leaving you my contact information, but I’m not.” Then he tucked it under the wiper and walked away. We sometimes treat God the same way—performing in front of others while hiding our real motives.

God’s wisdom isn’t only creative—it’s personal. He knows the hearts and motives that no one else can see. David told his son Solomon, “The Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9). He is not fooled by appearances. He is the all-wise author of everything, and there’s nothing you’re carrying today that he doesn’t already fully understand.

A Skill for Living

Old Testament wisdom is often described in three overlapping ways: seeing life clearly, acting rightly, and passing that understanding on to others. This is wisdom worked out in daily choices: what you say, what you love, how you treat the people in your house. This wisdom is meant to be handed down, from parents to children, generation to generation, because “wisdom is better than jewels” (Proverbs 8:11).

When we move into the New Testament, this thread doesn’t just continue—it culminates in a person. Paul writes that Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), and that in him “we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7). This is not the wisdom the world offers.

I’ve lived near Harvard and MIT, and I’ve walked the libraries of Oxford—places soaked in centuries of human achievement. There is real value in that kind of learning. But “the world did not know God through wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:21), and no amount of degrees, income, or influence can grant you what only God can give: the wisdom to know him and to live in light of eternity.

The world’s wisdom prizes strength. God’s wisdom was displayed through a Savior who was beaten, mocked, and crucified—and in that apparent weakness, he accomplished what all human wisdom never could. Through your own weakness and dependence on him, you become strong. That is the wisdom of God.

Fearing the Father, Following the Son

So how do you actually gain this wisdom? Proverbs 1:7 gives the starting point: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Solomon searched for meaning in pleasure, achievement, and status, and after all of it concluded, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Jesus said much the same in Matthew 7—the one who hears his words and does them is like a wise man building on rock, sturdy through every storm. The one who hears and ignores them builds on sand, and the fall is great.

Put simply, wisdom is gained by those who fear the Father and follow the Son.

Wisdom changes how you see your own sin. Sin distorts your vision the way fogged-up sunglasses distort a road—you can make out shapes, but not clearly. Daily surrender to Jesus clears that fog. It changes how you raise your children, prioritizing their understanding of God over their next accolade. It frees you from measuring your life by the world’s scoreboard. You need not feel behind because your house is smaller or your career less impressive. A pure heart and a growing faith are worth more than anything the world calls success.

Everyone wants to be good at life. God has told us exactly how: fear the Father, follow the Son, and let his wisdom—not the world’s—shape everything you do.

“A Word From Pastor Nick” is based on Pastor Nick Gatzke’s teaching series: Beyond Repair, message: Certain Death