Isn't that a wonderful thought? Don't you wish that it were really true? That if you didn't know what to do about some serious situation in your life, that all you had to do was ask G-d and He would just tell you what to do? Wouldn't that be exciting: to come to G-d and ask what to do, where to go, what to spend; and we would know?
But that is what it says. Can I really do that? Does it work? Well, yes, but not like the magic act some seem to expect when they ask. Let's look at what the word does say, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask G-d, ... and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
That means that if I need wisdom about something in particular, if I really need to know whether I should or should not take a trip or take a class, put off an appointment or buy another car, if I need wisdom and really need to know from G-d, if I haven't already made up my mind and am not simply waiting for something to encourage me in the direction I already want to go, if I am truly looking for wisdom and not permission to do something I already know I should not do, I should ask G-d.
If I lack wisdom and truly want not an excuse, not permission, not encouragement, but wisdom -- if I lack wisdom and want wisdom about any specific thing, then I should ask of G-d, go to Him with my mind open to His wisdom, go to Him with a real desire for His will, and I should go to Him believing and not doubting. I should go without any idea of "if it works..." or "If He cares ..." or any of the multitude of doubts which we take along witih us every day; if we do believe that He will give us that wisdom, then we will be answered, we will have the wisdom we need.
If we need wisdom and we ask for that wisdom, believing, then G-d will give us that wisdom. And here is where we get in the way again. Sometimes, we expect a big answer booming through the sky or spelled oud in gold letters in front of our eyes; but that isn't the way it often comes. G-d gives us that wisdom which we need and often it IS in that small quite voice deep within our spirit, and sometimes it is given to us in the words of some other person in conversation, in a commentary in a book, in a speech or a sermon, even in a novel or a movie, the words of a song or a poem we read.
Suddenly, we have our answer; the wisdom is a part of our thinking; we know what we must do. And that wisdom has come from G-d because we asked. Isn't G-d good? If only we had the wisdom in the first place to quiet ourselves and come before Him and without any preconditions, simply ask. Wisdom can be ours. The wisdom written about in the Proverbs can be ours. The wisdom Solomon asked for can be ours. We only need ask, believing.
