Job 28:1-28
Saturday, 9 October 2021
“The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom and to shun evil is understanding.”- Job 28:28
Chapter 28 of Job is the continuation of Job’s reply to his friend, Bilad’s question, “How can man born of woman be pure and righteous before God?” (Job 25:4). We read Job’s response to this question from chapters 26 to 31, where he talks about God and who He is and who He is to him. Job introduces us to an All-Powerful God, a Just God and a God of All Wisdom, in Chapters 26,27 &28.
Wisdom is something that everyone is desperately trying to attain. Parents and children are in this rat race of gaining wisdom and very often many of them fail as they cannot match the demands of this world. Adding one degree upon another is what most people do in their search for wisdom. But are these learned people really wise? Finding a wise man / woman these days is like finding a very rare jewel.
Job in the entire chapter talks about man’s ability to unearth and discover the most precious jewels on earth, able to find answers to many hidden things of the world. Yet in all these findings, man has still failed to find real wisdom. He asks a question in Job 28:12: “But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?” It is repeated in Job 28:20. Both these questions are posed right after declaring all the achievements of man.
Does the world around us give us an answer to this question? We go on to read in Job 28:14-19 nothing in this world, be the deep sea with all its secrets nor any precious metal, can give us an answer to this question. Does Job leave us there with this unanswered question? No! He gives us the answer in Job 28:23-27. He turns our attention to God. Job says, HE knows where It dwells (Job 28:23)– He is the source. He used this wisdom when He created the heavens and the earth.
Now the question arises, How can one receive this wisdom? Job goes on to give us the answer even to this question. We find it in the concluding verses of this chapter. If we follow his instruction, we are sure to become far wiser than others in this world.
The first thing to do is that we need to fear God. To “fear God” means we need to acknowledge Him, stand in awe of Him, lean on Him, depend on Him. Then we are sure to tap into that unending source of wisdom. For this to happen, you and I need to turn our lives over totally to The Living God and allow Him to be the one decision-Maker in our lives. Colossians 2: 2&3 tells us of Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Let Him be the Source of your wisdom.
Secondly, we are called to shun evil. To shun evil means to avoid, to reject evil. God wants us to take a deliberate step to avoid evil. This is a hard task. We read in the book of Genesis how God looked down from heaven and was displeased to see the wickedness and evil in man’s heart for Genesis 6: 5 says: “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
You may be considered as the wisest person by the people around you. But what does God see when He looks into your heart? The only way to shun evil is to hide God’s Word in our hearts so that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).
If we follow the above two instructions diligently then the world around us will surely realize that there is a wise person living amongst them.
Thought for the Day:
“Wise men still seek Jesus.”
-Anonymous