The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.

Job 28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“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.

The Search for Wisdom Is Harder

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.
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.’”

The time in history when Job lived was somewhere around 1500- 1600 years before Jesus was born, or about 3500 or more years ago. In those thousands of years, surely a lot has changed, but some things never change. Job describes the accomplishments of man saying:   There is a mine for silver And a place where they refine 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.   In Genesis 1:26-28 it says:  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  From the very beginning it was God’s plan for man to rule over creation and to fill and subdue the earth. It is not evolution or natural selection that caused man to rise above other animals, it was the super-natural selection and election of God.  Job continues:  “The earth, from it comes food, And underneath it is turned up as fire.  “Its rocks are the source of sapphires, And its dust contains gold.  “The path no bird of prey knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.  “The proud beasts have not trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.  “He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the base.  “He hews out channels through the rocks, And his eye sees anything precious.  “He dams up the streams from flowing, And what is hidden he brings out to the light.  When you consider what people were able to accomplish, the things they built and the ways that they subdued the earth thousands of years ago, we need to consider how much has really changed. With all of our human knowledge and understanding, will the things we build today be here for thousands of years? Our methods may have improved, but we still struggle and strive to subdue the earth and we are constantly reminded that for all of our knowledge and our technology, we cannot subdue the forces of creation, even today we will hear stories of the devastation caused by a storm.

Job continues with what is more important than all that we know and all that we can do.    “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?  “Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.  “The deep 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 fine gold.  “Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.  “The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold.  Knowledge can be attained and accumulated. I suppose you could say it can be purchased. Depending on the field of human knowledge and the degree to which it is purchased, it might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Still having knowledge does not guarantee that there will be understanding. A person can know the facts and the formulas; the theories behind human knowledge, but in truth, the real understanding that comes with knowledge is that there is always more that we don’t understand. Even with thousands of years of accumulated knowledge, our minds cannot understand the magnitude or the intricacies of the earth, creation and the universe. What human knowledge does not understand or cannot explain, science theorizes and speculates about.  Yet theories and speculations are not understanding and surely, they are not wisdom.

Job says:  “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?  “Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living 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 And sees everything under the heavens.  “When He imparted weight to the wind And meted out the waters by measure,  When He set 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 man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’”   Creation does not have wisdom, neither the earth, the elements nor the heavens. The animals also do not have, nor do they need wisdom, because they obediently do what they were created to do. God is the one who fully understands. He is omniscient. He knows and understands all there is to know and understand, because He is the one who created it and established its foundations and boundaries. So, with all that has changed, with all the advancement and accumulation of human knowledge, nothing has changed since the days of Job.  The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit that wisdom is not something we strive for, it is not something we accumulate or purchase. Wisdom is something that You impart to us, that we respond to You in obedience.  May I be what You created me to be. May I have the wisdom and understanding that comes through obedience to You.  Amen.