The Difference Of Knowledge And Wisdom Series

Job 12: 1 – 25

The Difference Of Knowledge And Wisdom

1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you! 3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? 4 “I am one mocked by his friends, who called on God, and He answered him, the just and blameless who is ridiculed. 5 A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip. 6 The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure—In what God provides by His hand. 7 “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. 9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, 10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? 11 Does not the ear test words and the mouth taste its food? 12 Wisdom is with aged men, and with length of days, understanding. 13 “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding. 14 If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release. 15 If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. 16 With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His. 17 He leads counselors away plundered, and makes fools of the judges. 18 He loosens the bonds of kings, and binds their waist with a belt. 19 He leads princes away plundered, and overthrows the mighty. 20 He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders. 21 He pours contempt on princes, and disarms the mighty. 22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings the shadow of death to light. 23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. 24 He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. 25 They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

In my lifetime I have across people whom I considered had great knowledge and wisdom. Do you know the difference between the two? One is gathering information and retaining it. The other has the God given ability to use the knowledge that was gained. This is called wisdom. I use to work with one guy by the name of Lou. He was extremely intelligent but lacked common sense. I told him one time that he had more college degrees than Bayor has aspirins but not enough common sense to be able to park a bicycle.

Many times when I am preparing a study of a particular book in the bible I most likely have had personal experience with the subject or as I stand back I get an actual direct realization of the biblical truth. For example, and here is a little advice to Pastors and I know some business leaders can benefit from. When you look at the people the Lord selects for ministry, most if not all were reluctant to get involved. They were all busy doing something. When you get an eager beaver who is all smiles and promotes himself or herself, I would advise you to watch out!

I observed this one guy who never came to our church. He is very popular in the secular world. When the Holy Spirit began to do an amazing growth in our church then low and behold this guy shows up and flatters his way not only on to the church leadership roster but weaseled his way to coming on staff immediately as a Pastor even though he never served in a Pastoral capacity anywhere or at anytime.

The church staff saw how this guy had weaned his way into the closeness of the Senior Pastor. To flatter him they would go this guy for every Tom, Dick, and Harry question. This guy loved to be known as an expert on every subject known to man. I did not realize that God had produced a second Solomon. If you know me then you can probably guess that I did not buy into this guy’s scheme. So, I remained polite but distant. I just concentrated on what the Lord had designated for me to do.

Like the attitudes of Saul and Haman this guy developed a personal resentment for me because I wouldn’t bow down to his position or knowledge. Behind the scene he slandered me and tried every trick in the book to discredit me and get me canned from my Pastoral position.