How dreams can help with wisdom from God

How biblical dream interpretation can help with wisdom for life, plus dream symbols for wisdom, receiving wisdom, and real dream examples.

What is wisdom? And how do we get wisdom for our situation?

This article explains why we need the specific heavenly wisdom that comes from God’s Holy Spirit to constantly guide us.

Plus, find out how dreams can help with wisdom – with real dream examples and common dream symbols for wisdom.

I approach dream interpretation from a biblical perspective. My belief is that our dreams can come from God, and understanding them is best understood within the context of an ongoing relationship with Him.

If you have just come across this post and are new to dream interpretation, you might find it helpful to see my free ultimate guide to Interpreting dreams from God.

What is godly wisdom?

The bible exhorts us to seek wisdom. In Proverbs it says that wisdom is better than silver or gold (Proverbs 16:16). But what is wisdom?

The Cambridge dictionary defines wisdom as ‘the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments’. That is a good general definition of human wisdom.

But, in this article, we are talking about wisdom from God, i.e. heavenly wisdom or godly wisdom.

• Proverbs 2:6, NIV For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
• Romans 11:33, NASB Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

True wisdom comes from God, as his knowledge and understanding of any situation is vastly superior to ours (like he is looking down from above on the maze of our life). In fact, I believe that unless our ‘wisdom’ comes from God, we don’t really have wisdom at all!

This heavenly wisdom comes directly from our relationship with God, through our personal connection with the Holy Spirit.

Godly wisdom and guidance

Godly wisdom is closely linked to guidance: It is the ability to understand the direction or action that needs to be taken in a specific situation. So, we need true wisdom from God to help us make good decisions and judgements.

We need God’s wisdom to guide us in our decisions.

Sometimes we understand why certain decisions are best, but other times understanding comes later – and we must trust God in the meantime and take steps of faith.

And sometimes godly wisdom even contradicts our natural understanding. In those times, as  Proverbs 3:5 says, we must choose to trust God and not rely on our own understanding.

Godly wisdom and the bible

The bible is full of general wisdom, advice, and life illustrations. So why do we need to hear from the Holy Spirit personally?

As someone who has read the bible regularly for over 40 years, I love reading it and know it very well: From it we can learn from the successes and failures of those who have gone before us and gain better understanding of God’s heart and interactions with mankind.

But sometimes, for various reasons, I have discovered that the specific answers we need are not always found in the bible.

I have observed two different types of wisdom in the bible. I call these general wisdom and specific wisdom. This is what I mean by them:

• General wisdom is good advice, that is usually helpful if you follow it.  Good examples of this can be found in the biblical wisdom literature, such as Proverbs, and in the many historical examples – both good and bad – that we find throughout the entire bible.
• Specific wisdom is what God says we personally need to do, in any given situation, to succeed (in accordance with our God-given purpose).  Often this aligns with general wisdom, but sometimes it does not.

So, then, what we need to live successfully is specific wisdom from God for each individual situation. Sometimes that is the same as general wisdom, but not always.

Specific wisdom for our situation

Here are some examples from within the bible itself, where God asks someone to do something specific that is contrary to general wisdom:

• General wisdom tells us to work diligently, be good stewards and save up money (e.g. Proverbs 10:4-5; Proverbs 13:11).  But Jesus specifically told the rich young ruler to sell everything, and follow Him (in Matthew 19:21).  That made no sense according to general wisdom, but for him it could have led to an amazing life following Jesus!
• General wisdom tells us to stay away from prostitutes (e.g. Proverbs 6:25). But in the book of Hosea, God specifically told Hosea to go and marry a prostitute whom he loved.  He did so, and their life together became a moving allegory of God’s unconditional love for Israel. 

In both of those cases, if you felt God was telling you to do something similar, you would be wise to seek further confirmation that it really was God speaking, because for most people it would not have been a good idea to do those things.

The same applies for any situation where we feel God is advising us to do something different to general wisdom: ask God to confirm it in several ways.

Last year God asked me to do something very difficult in a church situation, which was contrary to what I would normally consider to be wise. He gave me over 150 signs and confirmations during that month which I recorded in my journal – so in the end I had no doubt about what I should do. The bigger the risk we are taking, the more confirmations we can expect him to give us.

Another challenge is that there is often more than one possible ‘right’ course of action according to the biblical examples. This is not surprising, because the bible itself even tells us that there is a time and a season for everything. The challenge is to know which ‘time and season’ we are in!

• Ecclesiastes 3:1, NASB There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven.

Wisdom and our relationship with God

I have spent some time explaining why we need heavenly wisdom that is relevant to our indivdual situation. But that’s because it is important to grasp: Somehow, we need to gain that specific wisdom.

The point is that we need a personal relationship with God, and we need to walk with Him, hearing His voice and specific wisdom, every day. 

Of course, the Holy Spirit can highlight bible passages which are relevant to our specific situation – and frequently does so – and that would be specific wisdom! But there are many other ways the Holy Spirit can give us wisdom – and dreams are one of them.

How dreams can help with wisdom

For me, and increasingly for many others, dreams are a fantastic source of personally tailored specific wisdom.  It was so in bible times and it is true today.

Dreams are useful because our minds switch off, our spirits stay awake, and God can finally communicate his perspective and wisdom on situations. The detail with which God speaks through dreams continually astounds me:

• He speaks daily about the small things we need to know.
• He also addresses the big picture and speaks about the great plans He has for us, our family, our work, our church, and so on, depending on our personal responsibilities!

In my blog posts I regularly share examples of how God has done these things through my dreams.

Through our dreams, we have nightly access to heavenly wisdom.

In addition to showing us what to do, dreams also contain further insight – often revealing God’s heart and explaining why certain things need to happen. They advise us when we need to trust God because the big picture is beyond our understanding, but at other times all is explained and we can partner with God to carry out wise decisions.

Growing in wisdom

In addition to wisdom for our current decisions, interpreting dreams regularly over time can result in us growing in wisdom and knowledge of God.

As we interpret and review our dreams regularly, we see how God relates to us over time, and why he did certain things. We start to truly know his heart.

The fruit of this process is that we become wiser ourselves, and increasingly flow in the wisdom of God instinctively.

Dreaming about wisdom

Sometimes we can have dreams about wisdom itself. This could be:

• Dreams about receiving heavenly wisdom for a situation.
• Dreams about receiving the spiritual gift of wisdom or operating in that gift (1 Corinthians 12:8).
• Encounters with Wisdom (i.e. wisdom personified, Proverbs 1:20).

King Solomon famously encountered God and asked for wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:7-12). But did you know that this happened in a dream? And God granted his request! This dream encounter was as real as if Solomon had been awake – and the fruit of the wisdom he received was demonstrated throughout his reign, as documented in the bible and proven by his many writings.

Dream symbols relating to wisdom

There are some dream symbols that could appear in a dream to represent wisdom.

Note, these symbols can mean other things, so they might not be wisdom in your specific dream. But they could be, and if more than one of these appears in a dream it is most likely about wisdom. Also consider whether the symbol is being used in positive or negative context.

Colour red: Red has various potential meanings, and one is wisdom from God. This can be linked to the colour yellow, which is often about the mind and understanding.

Hair: Hair in general is usually about thinking and understanding, although it could also be about wisdom. Grey hair can be associated with wisdom coming from maturity. A person with grey hair might represent wisdom, depending on the context.

Names that mean wisdom: Someone with a name that means wisdom (or was known for wisdom in the bible) could represent wisdom in a dream. See The Name Book by Dorothy Astoria for meanings of names. For example:

• Sophie, Sophia, Sofia – means wisdom.
• Sonia – means wisdom.
• Sage – means wise.
• Solomon – was known for wisdom in the bible (1 Kings 4:29).
• Ethan – was known for wisdom in the bible (1 Kings 4:31).

Owls: Owls have various possible meanings, both positive and negative depending on the context. We have a saying ‘wise old owl’, so culturally owls could symbolise wisdom in a positive context.

Pearls: we sometimes talk about ‘pearls of wisdom’, so they could symbolise wisdom in dreams. Also think about a person called Pearl, or a name that means pearl (such as Margo or Margaret).

Wisdom teeth: Teeth in dreams are usually about processing information and understanding, but they can also be about wisdom. Specifically, wisdom teeth are likely to be about wisdom, so lacking a wisdom tooth could be about lacking wisdom.

Specific wisdom is closely linked to guidance. See also my article on guidance, which gives real dream examples and symbols relating to guidance in general.

Real dream examples: Wisdom

Dream	Interpretation	Explanation
I dreamed I was given a doctor’s prescription but it made no sense. I was looking up the information in a yellow folder but it was empty. I needed the big red folder. I decided to just trust the doctor.	The doctor was God, and this dream was telling me to trust his wisdom and do what he said, even though it made no sense in the natural.	The prescription symbolised directions from God. The yellow folder was my mind and natural understanding. Red was wisdom from God.
I dreamed my relative called Sophie needed an injection. It was a big needle and went all the way in.	I was going to get a big impartation/ gift of wisdom from God. This happened a few months later.	Sophie means wisdom. She was reflecting me and my need of wisdom. The injection was heavenly input.
I dreamed I was at the airport to fly home; I had some pearl earrings to take with me. Mum wanted to take a box of cereal flakes, but it wouldn’t fit in the case.	I would need to leave behind some old understanding (and natural wisdom) and simply trust in God’s specific wisdom for the next phase of my journey.	Flying home is about destiny. Cereal flakes were natural understanding (see brown/beige). Mum was reflecting me. Pearl earrings (see parts of the body) were me listening to God’s wisdom.
I dreamed I was at my relative Sophia’s dentist for some fillings, but it was too expensive. I wanted to go to my normal dentist, and we started arguing.	The dream was letting me know that I needed God’s wisdom, but at the time of dreaming I wasn’t ready to hear it – as it seemed too hard (cost too much).	Teeth can be wisdom and understanding. Sophia means wisdom. My usual dentist would be my natural way of thinking, and arguing was my mental battle.
I dreamed I saw a lot of baby owls running into the road and knew I mustn’t let them die.	This was a warning to hold onto the things I was hearing from God and not give up on them despite what other people were saying.	The owls (see animals) represented specific words of wisdom I was hearing from God at that time with many confirmations. The context was positive.
I dreamed I was discussing a drawing with a friend called Sophie, and she was asking me questions to get me thinking.	This was a wisdom encounter. God was giving me counsel about a specific situation I was facing (the drawing was my current plan).	Sophie could have been the Holy Spirit or an angel, or she could have been wisdom personified. Whoever she was, she represented heavenly wisdom.

Conclusion

We have seen that wisdom from God comes from a higher perspective than human wisdom, and is the only true wisdom. We need that heavenly wisdom to make good decisions and judgments in life.

In addition, we need specific godly wisdom for each situation. Sometimes this is the same as the general wisdom / examples found in the bible, but sometimes it is not. However, we can expect God to give us more than one confirmation if he leads us to go against general/common wisdom.

We have seen how dreams can help with godly wisdom by providing guidance and insight about our life. Plus, we can grow in wisdom ourselves through interpreting dreams with God over time.

In addition:

• Dreams can encourage us when we are being given wisdom.
• Dreams can alert us when we are lacking wisdom and need to seek God.
• Dreams can tell us when we need to trust in specific wisdom from God, rather than general wisdom or our own understanding.
• We can even encounter wisdom in dreams.

But don’t just take my word for it. Why not try listening to your dreams and see for yourself? Look out for symbols that could be about wisdom, and see what you find!

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