11/23/2011 8:02:30 PM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Job seeks wisdom
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Job 28
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will look at the 28th chapter of Job and we will look at Job seeking wisdom as the main point and under that main point we will look at three sub-points.
You cannot mine wisdom(Job 28:1-11): “1 ¶ "Surely there is a mine for silver And a place where they refine gold. 2 "Iron is taken from the dust, And copper is smelted from rock. 3 "Man puts an end to darkness, And to the farthest limit he searches out The rock in gloom and deep shadow. 4 "He sinks a shaft far from habitation, Forgotten by the foot; They hang and swing to and fro far from men. 5 "The earth, from it comes food, And underneath it is turned up as fire. 6 "Its rocks are the source of sapphires, And its dust contains gold. 7 "The path no bird of prey knows, Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it. 8 "The proud beasts have not trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it. 9 "He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the base. 10 "He hews out channels through the rocks, And his eye sees anything precious. 11 "He dams up the streams from flowing, And what is hidden he brings out to the light.” (NASB)
“1 ¶ Truly there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is washed out. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone is changed into brass by the fire. 3 Man puts an end to the dark, searching out to the farthest limit the stones of the deep places of the dark. 4 He makes a deep mine far away from those living in the light of day; when they go about on the earth, they have no knowledge of those who are under them, who are hanging far from men, twisting from side to side on a cord. 5 As for the earth, bread comes out of it; but under its face it is turned up as if by fire. 6 Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold. 7 No bird has knowledge of it, and the hawk’s eye has never seen it. 8 The great beasts have not gone over it, and the cruel lion has not taken that way. 9 Man puts out his hand on the hard rock, overturning mountains by the roots. 10 He makes deep ways, cut through the rock, and his eye sees everything of value. 11 He keeps back the streams from flowing, and makes the secret things come out into the light.” (BBE) (Bible in Basis English)
Charles H. Spurgeon said “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as the knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.” Job’s friends did not have this quality and Job was looking for wisdom, but he was not too sure where to find it.
In these first eleven verses we see that wisdom cannot be mined. We can look in such passages as Pr. 2:1-10; 3:13-15; 8:10-21; 1Cor. 3:12-23 and see that precious metals and precious stones are used as symbols of wisdom. Paul describes in 1Cor. 3:11-13 the following, “11 ¶ For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.” The precious things have to be mined at great risk to those who undertake the task, while things like wood, hay, and stubble are found on top of the earth and can be gotten at little risk.
The Bible is full of treasures but it is like a deep mine. Dr. Wiersbe writes, “the believer must put forth effort to discover its riches. It takes careful reading and study, prayer, meditation, and obedience to mine the treasures of the Word of God; and the Holy Spirit of God is willing to assist us. Why are we so negligent when this great wealth lies so near at hand?
You cannot buy wisdom (Job 28:12-19): “12 "But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 13 "Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living. 14 "The deep says, ’It is not in me’; And the sea says, ’It is not with me.’ 15 "Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, Nor can silver be weighed as its price. 16 "It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx, or sapphire. 17 "Gold or glass cannot equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold. 18 "Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls. 19 "The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold.” (NASB)
“12 “But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? 13 No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living. 14 ’It is not here,’ says the ocean. ’Nor is it here,’ says the sea. 15 It cannot be bought with gold. It cannot be purchased with silver. 16 It’s worth more than all the gold of Ophir, greater than precious onyx or lapis lazuli. 17 Wisdom is more valuable than gold and crystal. It cannot be purchased with jewels mounted in fine gold. 18 Coral and jasper are worthless in trying to get it. The price of wisdom is far above rubies. 19 Precious peridot from Ethiopia cannot be exchanged for it. It’s worth more than the purest gold.”
In our society many think that money is the answer to everyone’s problems so money is thrown at all kinds of things to help solve great problems. I know that a certain amount of money is needed to live on, but money is not the answer to all of life’s problems and issues. Dr. Wiersbe writes, “It’s good to enjoy the things money can buy (1Timothy 6:17) if you don’t lose the things that money can’t buy.” The last part of that statement is probably the most important part of that statement.
Job mentions gold, silver and many precious stones in this part of his speech, but he says that all of them put together cannot purchase wisdom. Proverbs 3:15, “She (Wisdom) is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.”
Wisdom comes only from God (Job 28:20-28): “20 ¶ "Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? 21 "Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the sky. 22 "Abaddon and Death say, ’With our ears we have heard a report of it.’ 23 "God understands its way, And He knows its place. 24 "For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens. 25 "When He imparted weight to the wind And meted out the waters by measure, 26 When He set a limit for the rain And a course for the thunderbolt, 27 Then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. 28 "And to man He said, ’Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’” (NASB)
“20 ¶ “But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of all humanity. Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it. 22 Destruction and Death say, ’We’ve heard only rumors of where wisdom can be found.’ 23 “God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, 24 for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens. 25 He decided how hard the winds should blow and how much rain should fall. 26 He made the laws for the rain and laid out a path for the lightning. 27 Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly. 28 And this is what he says to all humanity: ’The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’” (NLT)
We can see in this section that Job indeed has wisdom, for Job said the same thing that Solomon said and also the Psalmist said and that is that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Job speaks of wisdom not being found up where the birds fly or down in the earth, but Job also speaks of how wise God is in creation and sustaining of the earth in this section.
Dr. Wiersbe writes these important words, “What is the fear of the Lord? It is loving reverence for God, who He is, what He says, and what He does (Mal. 2:5-6). It is not a fear that paralyzes, but one that energizes. When you fear the Lord, you obey His commandments (Eccl. 12:13), walk in His ways (Deu. 8:6), and serve Him (Josh. 24:14). You are loyal to Him and give Him wholehearted service (2Chron. 19:9). Like Job, when you fear the Lord, you depart from evil (Prov. 3:7-8). The ‘fear of the Lord’ is the fear that conquers fear (Ps. 112); for if you fear God, you need not fear anyone else (Matt. 10:26-31).”
Personal pride is a the greatest barrier to spiritual wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.” We must have a reverent and respectful attitude toward God, and that is the first step in gaining wisdom. The next step is to ask God for wisdom as James writes in James 1:5. When we ask for wisdom James does writes some qualifications: “5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” We are not to doubt or be double minded. What is being double minded about? Well suppose we ask God for some wisdom to answer a problem that we have and we know in our hearts that God has spoken to our hearts perhaps through His Word, of through a message that we have heard, of even through a friend we ask to help us. We know what the right answer is but we do something else, something we want to do and that is being double minded.
1Cor. 11:24 teaches us that we must focus on Christ for Col. 2:3 shows us that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. Dr. Wiersbe writes “We must allow the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our heart so we can see God in His Word and understand more of the riches we have in Christ (Eph. 1:15-23)”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is nothing else that I can say that is my spiritual meaning for my life today than to continue to seek wisdom from the Lord to live a life that will be pleasing to Him, to bring honor and glory to Him in all that I do. I know that I am far from this, but I must keep seeking it.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Seek Wisdom from above.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
3. Abide in the vine.
4. Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service.
5. Put on the Spiritual armor.
6. Pray when being tempted.
11/23/2011 9:15:17 PM
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