3 Ways to Grow in Wisdom as You Grow Gray in the Hair

“The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their grey hair.” (Prov 20:29)

I am not favorable towards getting old. Annie could tell you that I whine often about my gray hairs. I don’t like waking up stiffer than I did 10 years ago. I don’t enjoy feeling sore for days after extra activity. As some have said before, “Getting old is not for sissies.”

While I don’t enjoy getting old, I can respect some things that God does, by His grace, as we get old. Lord willing, one of those gifts is wisdom. And that is what Solomon is lauding here.

Grey hair – in the Bible – is synonymous with godly wisdom (Job 15:10; Ps 71:18; Hos 7:9). In Titus 2:2, some commentators refer to the older men as “grey beards.” I like that. It implies they have something to teach to the younger men in the church.

Wisdom is the God-given ability to apply what one knows biblically to the problems of life. Wisdom is applied truth or knowledge in action. Charles Spurgeon would say that “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”

We have a whole book in the O.T. given to the pursuit and accumulation of wisdom – the Book of Proverbs. Wisdom is attainable, but is there anything tangible that we can do to acquire wisdom, other than getting old and grey? The answer is “Yes,” and if we ask the following 3 questions often, we are guaranteed to grow in wisdom.

1. What does God’s Word say? If God says, “Do this” or “Don’t do this,” that is His will. If God says, “It is my will that ____________________,” than He has told us what we should or shouldn’t do. II Peter 1:3 says we have everything we need in God’s word for godliness.

• What do the godly say? Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”  Many of the regular decisions we make are not directly addressed in the Scriptures. Maybe the most undervalued step of making decisions is listening to the wiser and more spiritually mature people in our lives. Solomon is saying that when several of those counselors are giving you the same advice, it is likely that God is telling you what to do. Thus, heed their counsel. To decide their corporate counsel is not worthy to be heeded is to show arrogance. It is to distrust the truth of Proverbs 11:14. It is to communicate to your multitude of counselors their wisdom does not match your own. When making decisions, don’t discount how God uses the spiritually advanced to influence us towards His will.

• What does my conscience tell me? The conscience is the Christian’s warning system; it’s a radar for morality. John Flavel, a Puritan, said the conscience is like a spy for God that shows us right and wrong. The conscience – for every man – will either accuse us of sin or excuse our behavior we have chosen. This is why it is vital that we inform our conscience with God’s word and godly counselor. Listen to your well-informed conscience.

We can get wisdom (Prov 2:6). If we lack wisdom, we are told to ask for it (Jas 1:5).