“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.
Wisdom that comes from God is the kind of knowledge that helps us cope w/ life and all that it throws at us. “Wisdom may be defined as a realistic approach to the problems of life.” (20th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge). You don’t get this kind of knowledge & wisdom just b/c you made good grades or were the valedictorian of your class. You get this knowledge from God and God alone.
For instance, imagine that your husband or wife or friend yells at you in anger. You could react in any number of ways – yell back, physically hit them, do nothing, or react w/ a soft, kind reply b/c Prov. 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Or imagine that someone begins making sexual advances toward you. There are a number of ways that you could respond – respond back in a way that shows that you are interested; just try to ignore their advances, or do what 1 Cor. 6:18 says and “Flee from sexual immorality.” Wisdom enables you to consider and choose the best course of action based on your knowledge and understanding of Who God is and What He would have you to do.
II. WISDOM DISCOVERED –
Job was on a quest to discover wisdom. He certainly felt like he needed it as he reeled from the tremendous losses that he had endured, and as he listened to his friends go on & on with their views on why he was suffering so much. He had to feel like Abraham Lincoln who once said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else go. My own wisdom, and that of all [those] about me, seemed insufficient for the day."
V. 12 – As we look at this passage, we see some places where wisdom doesn’t come from, places where it can’t be discovered:
- Wisdom doesn’t come from man – v. 13 – Sure, there are wise people, but their wisdom did not originate with them. True wisdom can’t be made up or conjured up. There’s no scientific or algebraic formula for it. “A man may be wise, but even that wise man is not the source of wisdom.” (Duane Garrett)
- Wisdom doesn’t come from unknown places – v. 14 – The sea and the underwater world was a place of mystery to the ancient world. There was no Jacques Cousteau back then, no submarines, no scuba gear. So other than the fish they caught, they had no idea what was beneath the surface of the waters. We can search all we want in mysterious, unknown places, but never find wisdom.
- Wisdom doesn’t come from material riches & wealth – v. 15-19 – There may be a lot of people in our world today who think they can buy wisdom, or that they are wise b/c they are affluent. But wisdom can’t be bought w/ any amount of money, even though our culture values wealth over wisdom.
- Wisdom doesn’t come from other spirit beings – v. 22 – “Destruction and Death” – Heb. – “Abaddon” – the place of the dead or the grave. Rev. 9:11 – “And they had as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Heb. is Abaddon, and in Gk., Apollyon [Destroyer].” Here, Abaddon is not a place but a person, the angel who reigns over the abyss, the Destroyer. Wisdom certainly doesn’t come from him.
Job knew that true wisdom comes from God alone – v. 23. He had already stated in 9:4 – “[God’s] wisdom is profound…” In 12:13, he said, “To God belong wisdom & power; counsel & understanding are His.” 1 Kings 4:29 tells us that “God gave Solomon wisdom & very great insight, & a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.” The woman of character described in Prov. 31 “speaks w/ wisdom” (v. 26), only b/c she knows the Lord and b/c He has given her the wisdom that she speaks. God alone is the source of wisdom. He is the sovereign Lord of all the universe, the Creator God, our Savior, Sustainer, Redeemer, & King.
III. WISDOM DELIVERED –
We’ve defined wisdom and discovered that God alone is the source of wisdom. But what about applying it to our lives today? What does it take for us to have G’s wisdom delivered to our everyday lives here at T’giving 2005 so we can be ready to deal w/ anything & everything that life throws at us?
Look at v. 28 – The key to being a wise person, a person who has God’s wisdom at work in your life, is to fear God. Job is not the only person who makes this statement:
- “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” – Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7 – David & his son, Solomon, both stated this truth.
If you want wisdom – the ability to judge correctly & follow the best course of action for your life – you must fear God. What does it mean to fear God?
- Some would want to define the fear of God as ONLY reverence and awe of God. I believe that’s b/c we find ourselves almost offended to say that we ought to be afraid of God in any way. That sounds so old-fashioned and outmoded.
- Yet the words for “fear” in the Heb. OT & Gk. NT actually imply being afraid of something & not merely being in awe of it. Fear means fear. “Fear Factor” TV show named that b/c contestants were actually facing their fears. They were afraid, not just in awe. “Awe Factor” just doesn’t have the same punch as “Fear Factor.”
- “The fear of the Lord is a healthy awareness that God punishes sin, & having the fear of the Lord helps keep us on the right path.” (Garrett)
When we fear God & His hand of discipline on our lives as His children, or His hand of judgment if we are not His children, then we will have a deep desire for His wisdom, His direction in our lives. Grudem – “…if we fear dishonoring God or displeasing Him, & if we fear His fatherly discipline, then we will have the motivation that makes us want to follow His ways & live according to His wise commands…The person who is wise according to God’s standards will continually walk in dependence on the Lord & w/ a desire to exalt Him.” Fearing God means that “we know God & are unwilling to go in any direction that takes us away from Him” (Garrett). We fear His discipline. We fear grieving Him. We fear quenching His Spirit’s work in our lives. We fear missing out on being involved w/ Him in His work, which is what our disobedience causes. We fear losing His presence in our lives. We fear not being able to hear His voice. We fear the consequences that our sin will cause in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Wisdom is delivered to our lives when we fear G, recognize our desperate need for His wisdom, and call out to Him. James 1:5 promises us that when we do that, He will give us His wisdom. He WILL deliver it to us right on time every time.
CONCLUSION – Are you a wise person? The way you can tell today is by asking this question: “What is the wisest decision that God would have me to make today?”
