Thank God For Wisdom Series

“THANK GOD FOR WISDOM” Job 28:12-28

INTRO – T’giving week – so many things that we can and will give thanks for in our lives – health, families, friends, church – Community T’giving service

There was once a man who was pursued by a roaring hungry lion. As that lion was sprinting after him, he felt the hot breath upon the back of his neck - and he knew that his time was short. So he fell on his knees and he prayed to God, and he cried out in desperation: ’Lord, make this lion a Christian!’. Of course, as he finished his prayer he turned round, and lo and behold the lion was on his knees praying! The lips were moving, and he thought: ’What a tremendous answer to prayer’ - and he was so encouraged by God’s supernatural power that he went over to the lion to join him in fellowship. As he was kneeling down he heard the lion praying: ’Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful’!

What about thanking God for wisdom? Ever thought about that? We thank Him for so many other things that He graciously gives to us:

- Our salvation, His love, grace & mercy

- His faithfulness to us & the way He constantly provides for us

- His protection & strength & the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives

- His Word

So why not thank Him for His wisdom? Maybe we would thank Him for it more if we understood it more. Rom. 11:33 exclaims, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom & knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, & His paths beyond tracing out!” His deep & rich wisdom is definitely a motivating factor in our praise to Him. Paul goes on to say in Rom. 11:36, “For from Him & through Him & to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”

In his book, Out of the Whirlwind, Mark Tabb writes, "He tells us to trust him enough to believe he knows what he is doing. When his actions don’t make sense, trust him. When the windows of heaven seem to be open extra wide and life can’t get any better, trust him. When the bottom falls out and life turns hard, trust him. Good times and bad, happy and sad, trust him. When I try to explain him away or reduce him to neat little formulas, I show a lack of faith not a wealth of it."

What will God do? I have no idea, but I do know this: God is God. His wisdom knows no end. He isn’t making things up on the fly. He knows what he is doing. Now I must trust him enough to entrust my life to him even when I would rather not." -- Out of the Whirlwind, p.28 (www.preachingplus.com)

When we begin to understand God’s wisdom, we CAN trust Him when we would rather not. When we begin to understand God’s wisdom, we’ll praise Him and thank Him for it. When we begin to understand God’s wisdom, we’ll realize the need to constantly ask Him for it and the importance of living by it.

When we consider all that Job was going through in his life, it’s obvious that he was searching for wisdom to help him deal w/ his suffering & loss. He needed to find some course of action to guide him through the tough times he was dealing with. Let’s look at 3 fundamentals of wisdom today:

I. WISDOM DEFINED

Suppose found a magic lamp. Genie offers 3 wishes. Health, wealth, happiness? 1 Chron. 1:7 – G – “Ask me for whatever you wish.” Solomon’s desire was for “wisdom & understanding.” Must be something to this wisdom thing for him to request that over riches & power.

Let’s look at some definitions of wisdom:

- “the ability to discern what is true, right, or lasting” (www.dictionary.com)

- “the ability to judge correctly & to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge & understanding” – Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary

- “Wisdom is the power to see & the inclination to choose the best & highest goal, together w/ the surest means of attaining it.” – J.I. Packer

- “God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals & the best means to those goals.” – Wayne Grudem, p. 193

Wisdom is not necessarily the same as intellect. An intellectual person – one who has a capacity to learn & reason – is not necessarily a wise person. Hitler was an intellectual person; Saddam Hussein is an intellectual person; Martin Haskell, the man who invented the partial-birth abortion procedure is an intellectual person; Howard Stern is an intellectual person; Pontius Pilate was an intellectual person; Kim Gandy, pres. of NOW, is an intellectual person. But none of these is wise, according to God’s standard of wisdom, which is His Word. You probably know someone who is a wise person, but doesn’t have a high school diploma.