When my adult children ask for advice about jobs or relationships, I desperately want to answer wisely. I yearn for wisdom. When a colleague asks a question that could have far-reaching implications for ministry, I ache for wisdom. When my dad suffers a stroke and my mom needs help caring for him, I long for wisdom as I decide how to best honor my father and mother. So, I scurry here and there for answers. I talk with friends, listen to podcasts, read books and articles, hop from link to link to link on the internet hoping to land on the perfect answer, the wise answer. 

Where can we find answers? Where can we find wisdom? It seems twelve-year-old Jesus knew.

When Jesus was twelve, he went with his mom and dad to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. After the Feast, Mary and Joseph began their journey home. When they realized Jesus wasn’t with the group of people they were traveling with, they turned around and headed back to Jerusalem to look for him.

“After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Luke 2:46-47

Jesus was in the temple courts, sitting with teachers who knew God’s law, listening to them, asking them questions, and offering answers. Luke ends the story this way: 

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52

Growing in wisdom comes from growing in God’s Word. 

When we ache for answers and want to grow in wisdom, we can humbly turn to those who know God’s Word. We can slow down and sit with them. We can listen–really listen–to them. We can question and think and discuss.

Above all, we can humbly turn to the Lord himself and to his Word. He welcomes us to sit (not scurry) and to truly listen. He welcomes us to prayerfully question and think and discuss. It is only because of what Jesus did for us on the cross that we are offered such a precious gift–to sit with Wisdom!