Wisdom and Understanding! Page 8

“God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, 
for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.”
Job 28: 23-24

To me this is beautifully written.  I can just see God looking down, with earth in full view, knowing the path to where everything dwells…knowing earth-inside and out; but what is it that this scripture is talking about?  If you go back two steps to verse 20 and begin reading from there…you will fully understand what is being poetically written about:

 “Where then does wisdom come from? 

Where does understanding dwell? 

It is hidden from the eyes of the every living thing, 

concealed even from the birds of the air.  Destruction and Death say, 

‘only a rumor of it has reached our ears’. 

Again verses 23-24

 ”God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, 

for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.”

 Verses 25-28 

“When He established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, 

when He made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, 

then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it.  

And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, 

and to shun evil is understanding”.

Job 28: 20-28

In the scripture above we learn that God is the source of wisdom and understanding and that at some point, while He was setting paths for thunderstorms and decrees for the rain –He made note of wisdom.  He went even further by appraising, confirming and testing it.  How many times in our lives do we appraise, confirm and test something.  You can bet that when we do…it is important.  This is important. 

Scripture even states here that he verbally spoke to man and said “The fear of the Lord THAT is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding".  Now, He is not speaking of a basic understanding….as in “oh, yes…I understand”.  I believe this is talking about a deep, spiritual agreement-an accord with one’s self, and God, to shun sinful, evil things.  God has given us a directive to respect the Lord and to shun evil.  By practicing this we put wisdom and understanding into motion.  God himself has appraised, confirmed and tested this theory so we can rest assured that its applications work.  For our own confirmation we can simply look at creation to know that God has a handle on “putting things into motion”.   

This particular scripture also says that Death and Destruction have only heard rumors of wisdom and understanding.  Why do you think that is?  Could it be that two very practical God-given instruments, wisdom and understanding, are of no use to Death and Destruction?  Living here on earth we know that to be the case. The bible has capitalized Death and Destruction for surely they are nouns.  I believe that in this scripture these two words are proper names for serious forces at work in this world.  These two forces are the very things that bring us to the end of ourselves. 

 Romans 6:23 says 

“The wages of sin is death

 but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, Our Lord”. 

The crux of our Christian belief is that this earth and it’s people are in bondage to sin and death is the only way out.  Thankfully, as believers, we have been given a gift that saves us from the decay of this world, eternal life. 

 Romans 8: 20-22 states: 

“For creation was subjected to frustration,

 not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, 

in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay 

and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth

 right up to the present time.” 

All we need to do is turn on the news and we have evidence of this fact.  The bible says in Proverbs 27: 20 “Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man.”  All we have to do is look at our burdened society to know that this is true.  Solomon states in Ecclesiastes 1:8 “All things are wearisome, more than one can say.  The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear it’s fill of hearing.” All we have to do is look at our TV options to know that this is true.  When the disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables He replied in Matthew 13:13 

“This is why I speak to them in parables:

 “Though seeing, they do not see; 

though hearing, they do not hear or understand,…”

 (It seems that even in Jesus’ day people were falling prey to this same issue.)

 OK, what are these scriptures saying?  Many things!  The noise of this world…the blurring of understanding…the weariness on monotony, the acceptance of sin …it blinds our eyes and dulls our hearing to the point that all things become acceptable and nothing is satiable.  Ever so slowly time changes what we see as valuable and our minds are no longer sensitive to the sight and sound of sin.  If we don’t practice seeking heavenly wisdom and godly understanding we lose two of our senses that connect us to God…our hearing and our seeing.   We begin see and hear as the world sees and hears. 

To live on this earth we must seek wisdom and understanding from the heavenly… and to do that we must differentiate what is valuable on earth from what is valuable in heaven.   This world is filled with meaningless, sinful things, and if we’re not careful with our associations, our mouths will be full of idol words… and our hearts will beat for the attainment of the temporary.   Our society has taught and groomed us to search out, go for, and literally build our life-long ambitions on worldly attainment.  We can become very weary, very fast living our lives within the wrong context and/or believing in the wrong value-system.

Do you feel weary?  In what have you placed your faith?  When you closely align yourself with this sinful world you will not sharply hear nor clearly see wisdom… nor fully understand righteousness (that which is right).   When you search this world for happiness and fulfillment you will never find it -for your spirit knows the difference.   Your eyes can scan the horizon for the next fun-filled adventure…and your ears can listen intently for the next opportunity for success…but until you give up the illusion that happiness is within arm’s reach…you’ll never understand wisdom nor face the truth that happiness and godliness are intangibly within.

Matthew 6: 19-21 says:  

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, 

where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 

where moth and rust do not destroy, 

and where thieves do not break in and steal. 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

This scripture is encouraging us to value things that are worthy of heaven-those things God treasures-namely character and integrity; friendship and love; honesty and devotion; generosity and compassion; wisdom and understanding.

 Only when we open our hearts and minds to the pursuit of God will we find any level of satisfaction as we live our life on earth.  Happiness is not about the tangible but the intangible; it is not about the physical but the spiritual- for earthly treasures will never fulfill us. If we’re honest with ourselves we know this to be true.   With this said, let’s set our eyes, hearts, and ambitions on a different value system.  Scripture says:  “Come out and be separate”….for we have nothing in common with this evil world."  "Pursue God and He will be found by you"…."Draw close to God and He will draw close to you."  Seek wisdom and understanding from their true source, God. Commitment is key…belief is crucial…differentiation mandatory!

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth
 to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”
  II Chronicles 16:9

May your daily strength be found in God!

RvH

Song Recommendation:

Here With Me

by:  MercyME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74CNUExD4I8