KNOWING GOD: THE SOURCE OF WISDOM
Why do we need wisdom?
Someone said that knowledge is the ability to take something apart; wisdom is needed to put it back together again. I am not sure where that saying came from but I think it makes partial sense.
A young man in our congregation told me last week that he recently took apart his car’s engine and then put it all back together again. Knowledge tells us where a part of the engine should go. But if it doesn’t fit or something is missing, knowledge alone will be inadequate. Wisdom is needed to see beyond the problem and determine a solution.
Why do we need wisdom?
One aspect of human wisdom is the ability to cope. In our Bibles there are three strands of human wisdom. First, there is proverbial wisdom, the common sense stuff that is passed on about life and behavior. We find this everyday morality lesson in the book of Proverbs. Then there is a deeper wisdom gleaned from intellectual exploration. This type of wisdom searches for the answers to life’s riddles, as in the book of Ecclesiastes. Third, there is human wisdom as seen in Job which marvels at man’s ability to innovate, as we will see. Each strand of human wisdom demonstrates an ability to cope – to cope with everyday demands, to cope with decisions and issues, and to cope with opportunities laid out before us.
Humankind has been searching for wisdom since the beginning. When Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She was deceived by the serpent into believing that she lacked something and that the wisdom in the fruit would help her cope. Eve opened up a world of pain and frustration. So we need wisdom even more to help us cope with life.
It is appropriate then that we turn to Job, a man who endured every kind of loss imaginable, to begin our search for wisdom. In our quest to know God better we will examine Job’s discussion of wisdom in chapter 28. The goal of our study is that we may better know the God of wisdom and find wisdom for ourselves.
1. The Limits of Human Wisdom
Job’s story is one of incredible loss and testing as a result of that loss. His children are killed, his servants slaughtered and his livestock stolen from him. In the second test he is given a terrible skin disease and is such a miserable sight that his wife tells him to curse God and die. He stubbornly hangs on to the faithfulness and goodness of God instead. The rest of the book is a conversation between Job and his friends about life’s trials and God’s part in them.
Chapter 28 is an interlude between these dialogues. Either the writer or Job himself pauses to reflect on human wisdom in verses 1-11 (Let’s read them).
In these first 11 verses the writer delights in man’s ability to mine and smelt and find riches. This is a celebration of man’s skills and wisdom to find wealth.
Digging in: Mining – verses 1-2 reflect on man’s ability to see the worth in silver and gold and iron and copper. In these elements humankind finds the means to build and to buy and to create an economy for vital living. On the surface level human wisdom grasps value in simple mining.
Digging deeper: Technology – verses 3-6 describe the next level of mining. Humans start to think that there must be more precious metals and stones beneath the earth. So they cut a shaft to dig beneath the earth (4) and expose the hidden wealth. The writer also speaks of smelting, the process of refining to separate precious metal from the dross (5), another wise innovation of humankind.
I think that had the writer lived in our time he would have included and marveled at our ability to explore space and land on the moon. Certainly in our times we can see the benefits of technology. We have cell phones and microwaves, email and computers. Technology is seen as the solution to our current problems whatever they may be. Human wisdom continues to advance in the sphere of technology far beyond Job’s imagination.
Digging greater: Mastery – verses 7-8 lord it over the animal kingdom. Here the writer observes how the falcon and other beasts haven’t the intelligence to do what man has done. Birds and beasts would never think to mine the earth’s core. It is a subtle statement that humankind is master of the earth and lord over the animals.
Digging further: Exploration – verses 9-11 tell us that humans are adventurers in the fashion of Indiana Jones, a finder of precious things. “He searches the sources of the rivers and brings hidden things to light” (11). The writer has great admiration for the skills of the miner, for technology, for science and exploration.
But this is simply an illustration. This is an example, not only of human wisdom and its reaches, but of the limits of human wisdom also. Digging is a metaphor for searching. And humankind’s searching is endless and fruitless if it begins and ends with what man knows on his own.
There is more to wisdom than the skill of the miner, than the mind of the inventor, and the intelligence of the scientist. There is something that even human being do not understand. For all our self-proclaimed wisdom we are at a loss when faced with death, or pain, or the meaning of life. Human wisdom is frail when a son or daughter rebels. When we experience loss and dreams crumble, human wisdom just doesn’t help. So where can true wisdom be found?
2. The Search for True Wisdom
a) Humankind doesn’t get it – We cannot search for true wisdom in all the usual places. Science and technology will not one day discover the source of wisdom through experimentation or tests. It is sometimes thought that wisdom comes with age, but the older I get the more foolish I feel.
The writer of Job asks, “But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?” (12). This is a man in pain asking. And in his sorrow he looks at life and death and says “it cannot be found in the land of the living” (13) and Death says “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears” (22). All of life and the specter of death possess no clue to coping with life itself and the questions of existence.
Wisdom cannot be purchased either. All the precious elements of verses 15-19 are useless for purchasing or comparing with wisdom. Oddly enough you cannot purchase wisdom but the writer of Proverbs tells us “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding” (Prov 4:7). Since money can’t buy wisdom, what does the writer mean saying it will cost you all you have? It is a mystery. And humankind doesn’t get it.
The Apostle Paul gives us two clues why humankind finds wisdom elusive. We read in 1 Cor 2:6, “We…speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.” The first group from whom wisdom is withheld are the immature. Paul plainly tells the Corinthians “I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ” (3:1). They needed milk and would choke on the solid food of God. As such they saw the gospel as foolishness.
The second group from whom wisdom is withheld are unbelievers. Paul says the wisdom of God is not of this age, so that the smartest men and women of this age do not get it. It is not the same sphere; it is out of their realm of thinking; it is not logical to them. Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates cannot comprehend the wisdom of God because it is from another place.
Wisdom: you can’t buy it or receive it from another person. You can’t get it if you are immature in faith or if you don’t believe at all.
b) Only God knows – Where does wisdom come from? Where do we find understanding and the ability to cope with life’s ups and downs? Only God knows. That is what the writer of Job tells us.
“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” (23-24).
Before Job receives the ultimate answer in the very presence of God, he stumbles upon the truth of his own situation. In his discovery we are humbled to realize that this is true of whatever you are facing right now. If we can put aside our pride and hurt for a moment we will see this truth in our own circumstances and pain. It is simply this: God sees all; we only see in pieces. We only see what it is in the headlights of our car at night; God sees miles down the dark road.
A young girl named Gladys had two sorrows in her life. One was that all the girls she knew had golden hair while hers was black. The other was that while her friends were still growing she had stopped. She was about four feet, ten inches tall. In the course of her life she felt God’s call to be a missionary and share the good news of Jesus. When she reached the mission field, Shanghai, China, she looked at all the people around her. “Every single one of them” she said, “had black hair. And every one of them had stopped growing when I did.” She was able to look to God and exclaim, “Lord God, You know what You’re doing!”
How is it that God see things so perfectly? Job says that he created the world; he established it. The writer of Proverbs said, “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heaven’s in place…” (Prov 3:19). God, Job says, looked at wisdom and appraised it (27). God is the creator of this world and sees it all intimately. Didn’t he create you too? Does he not wisely work in your life bringing all things together for his purposes? Doesn’t he know what he is doing?
3. God Reveals His Wisdom
a) The beginning of wisdom – We come now to the answer to Job’s question “Where does wisdom come from?” Here it is: And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding’ (28).
Let’s return to Genesis 3:6 and the scene where the serpent was tempting Eve to eat the fruit. He said to her ‘your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ She saw that it was desirable for gaining wisdom and she ate it.
Wisdom would have belonged to Adam and Eve had they obeyed God. Instead the serpent deceived them and made them think that there was more to wisdom. The beginning of wisdom is simply this: obey God. The fear of the Lord – life lived in communion with the Lord and in obedience to his will – is the beginning of wisdom. That is the gift which enables us to cope.
Gerhardt von Rad said, “One becomes competent and expert as far as the orders in life are concerned only if one begins from knowledge about God.” As we wrestle with Job in his pain and our own, we see there is more to life than we can understand with our senses; there is more to life than the greatest of human skills. True wisdom is found in God alone.
b) Our confession of ignorance – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear in this respect requires our obedience. We also need to trust God to gain wisdom.
In Proverbs we read, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6). This is a call to confess our true ignorance of the big picture and acknowledge that God sees all. To lean on our own understanding is to rest on human wisdom. While logic and reasoning are useful tools for life and decision-making in particular, life is not always logical. In times like that we must recognize that God has a plan we can trust. That plan will require our faith if we understand God’s ways.
Paul said, “…God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Cor 1:27-29). God may use unlikely things to bring about his plan. The hurt you are feeling right now, the abandonment and loneliness, just may be God calling you to himself.
c) The ultimate revelation of his wisdom – Obedience, trust and belief work together to receive the Lord’s wisdom. As I said earlier, those who do not believe cannot accept divine wisdom.
God revealed his wisdom to the world and the world rejected him. Look again at this passage, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:6-8).
On the cross we behold the wisdom of God. Jesus Christ crucified is the wisdom of God personified. As Paul pointed out, the Jews of his day looked for a show of strength and power, but only saw weakness in a criminal nailed to a tree. The Greeks looked for wisdom and fine words, but saw in Jesus only foolishness. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, you and I, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
You see how God uses the unlikely to accomplish his purposes. Humankind needed saving; we needed something to help us cope with the problem of sin. He gave us Jesus on the cross as the ultimate expression of his incredible wisdom. In the cross we see the power to overcome any obstacle in life. In the cross we see the wisdom of God to cope with life’s struggles.
If all you see is weakness and foolishness in what I am saying then you know at what level of maturity you find yourself. “True wisdom cannot be grasped by those who are unsaved, by those who do not have the Spirit of God dwelling within them illuminating the truth of the Scriptures so they can know the deep things of God. True wisdom speaks of things which pertain to a future age and of things which no man has ever seen, or heard, or is even able to imagine. The only way this kind of wisdom can be known is for men to trust in Jesus Christ so that their spiritual eyes may be opened to see the wonders of the wisdom of God and the world to come.” (Bob Deffinbaugh)
Jesus said this, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matt 7:24-27).
My desire this morning is that we will be drawn to the wisdom of God, that we will want to know God, the source of all wisdom more intimately. I invite you to pray to him for the wisdom you so badly need for life. As parents of children who cry out for guidance and help; as young folks who see their future before them and wonder what to do; as any man or woman who faces life’s difficulties and needs God…Come and pray, pray to the God of Wisdom and to his Son, Jesus Christ.
Build your house on the rock of Jesus…AMEN
