Wisdom Truck 19

 

I wonder, as we have wandered through job, if you have caught on to Job's biggest problem.  He didn't have it at the beginning.  In fact, we (had I been doing just a Job study) would have seen how grounded he was.

Job 1:20  Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 

Job 1:21  And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 

And...

Job 2:9  Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 

Job 2:10  But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. 

But somehow Job seems to get off track.  Then, towards the end, he shows us in chapter 28 he is still, deep down, grounded in faith.  He uses vv1-11 to show the things, amazing things, man can do that no other living creature can, by finding gold and gems by mining, damming rivers, and the like.  But with verse 12, he hits his point...

Job 28:12  “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 

Job 28:13  Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. 

Job 28:14  The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ 

Wisdom is not natural; it is supernatural.  And actually, it is BEYOND supernatural...

Job 28:21  It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. 

Job 28:22  Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ 

In verse 27, Job tells us four things we have a hard time grasping about Wisdom...

Job 28:27  then He saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. 

Let's stop and take stock of these four things, because it is important, and Job knowing this shows himself at the core as truly wise. God saw it- He envisioned it as part of the structure of the universe, and beyond.  "Declared" is literally He counted it like a tally counts, He made the very structure, directions, and limits (to the extent they exist) of Wisdom.  "Established", or as the KJV translated it, "prepared", comes from the word for 'to set up'.  He built it into all things.  "Searched it out" is one word meaning 'to penetrate, to examine intimately.  And Job caps the definition with:

Job 28:28  And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” 

All of which is different than, even opposite of, all that Eliphaz and co. called wisdom.  Eliphaz claimed they had searched it out... but how can man do what only God has done?  Wisdom isn't learning what the gray haired old men repeat, or what they can search out and pass on.  It is seeing God for what He is.

And unfortunately, that means that Job, while closer than his buddies, isn't quite there, either.  He proves that by continuing on his path of wanting to get back to where he was, when he was a man repsected, and not being made fun of while he sits in the garbage scratching his boils.

You see, for the first time ever, I saw that Job actually spells out his problem.  He didn't realize it, and his friends were too far off-course to see it.  But in all his moaning and groaning, he finally names it for what it is... and the reason I never saw it before is I have only seen it translated this way in the Jermiah Study Bible- and he drew it from the New King James:

Job 30:22 (NKJV):

"You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it; You spoil my success."

You. Spoiled. My. Success.  There it is, in all its ugliness.  Somehow, he went from Huimbling himself to the Lord's will back in Chapters 1-3 to resenting God for humbling him now.  Lesson learned: true Wisdom is humbling.  Well, maybe we learned it... but Job hasn't, not yet.  And He's not ready to hear it from a blunt, point-blank God.  And at this point, we will meet Elihu- and Elihu will define things for all of us.