Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom

Job 28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“Certainly there is a mine for silver
And a place for refining 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 away from inhabited areas,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing, away from people.
⁵ From the earth comes food,
And underneath, it is turned over like fire.
⁶ Its rocks are the source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.
⁷ No bird of prey knows the path,
Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.
⁸ The proud animals have not trodden it,
Nor has the lion passed over it.
⁹ He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the base.
¹⁰ He carves out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.
¹¹ He dams up the streams from flowing,
And brings to light what is hidden.

¹² “But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Mankind does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The ocean depth 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 pure gold.
¹⁸ Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of wisdom is more valuable than pearls.
¹⁹ The topaz of Cush cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
²⁰ Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is this place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living creature,
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;
He sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When He imparted weight to the wind,
And assessed the waters by measure,
²⁶ When He made 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 mankind He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

The text says: “Certainly there is a mine for silver And a place for refining gold. Iron is taken from the dust, And copper is smelted from rock. Man puts an end to darkness, And to the farthest limit he searches out The rock in gloom and deep shadow. He sinks a shaft away from inhabited areas, Forgotten by the foot; They hang and swing, away from people. From the earth comes food, And underneath, it is turned over like fire. Its rocks are the source of sapphires, And its dust contains gold. No bird of prey knows the path, Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it. The proud animals have not trodden it, Nor has the lion passed over it. He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the base. He carves out channels through the rocks, And his eye sees anything precious. He dams up the streams from flowing, And brings to light what is hidden.  “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Mankind does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.  Certainly, mankind has attained much more knowledge than when these words form Job were written. But even with all of our accumulated knowledge, have we gained anymore wisdom? Do we really have more understanding? If those who have gained so much knowledge will be honest enough to admit it, for every question they find answer for regarding creation, it only asks more questions. Our universities have set a high price on knowledge, but as we are seeing, buying knowledge is not wisdom. We may know a lot more than Job and the people of his day, but we still don’t have understanding and we have seemingly gained little if any wisdom.

The text says: The ocean depth says, ‘It is not in me’; And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, Nor can silver be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx, or sapphire. Gold or glass cannot equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for articles of pure gold. Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is more valuable than pearls. The topaz of Cush cannot equal it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold. Where then does wisdom come from? And where is this place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of every living creature, And concealed from the birds of the sky. Abaddon and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’  “God understands its way, and He knows its place. For He looks to the ends of the earth; He sees everything under the heavens. When He imparted weight to the wind, And assessed the waters by measure,  When He made a limit for the rain, And a course for the thunderbolt, Then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. And to mankind He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”  In the pride and arrogance of our knowledge, we have failed to even sustain the very foundation of wisdom and understanding. Rather than fearing God and turning from evil, our culture and society has turned from God and fearlessly embraced evil. In Isaiah 5:20 God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  In Isaiah 55:8-11 He says: My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it produce and sprout, And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.  If God will do what He said he would do, and he will, then surely it is not wisdom to call evil good and darkness light as our culture has determined to do. Far from wisdom, Psalm 14:1-3 rightly says: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts; There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of mankind To see if there are any who understand, Who seek God. They have all turned aside, together they are corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

Wisdom understands John 3:16-21 and responds accordingly: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.” Amen.