Job 26:1 - Job facetiously answers his friends: "Well, you've certainly been a great help to a helpless man." People out there are getting by with murder---with illusions of security. Job 28:23 "God Alone knows the Way to Wisdom." Job 28:28 "Here it is! Fear-of-the-LORD----that's wisdom , and Insight means shunning evil." Am I shunning evil or am I slapping its wrist like it was a naughty thing to do?
I first read the quote from Abraham Heschel when we were going through a hard time back in F.W. "God is not nice. God is not an uncle. God is an earthquake." 66 LL says the world of Christendom does not want to believe that. "Am I willing to die to my blessings as my source of life?" Dead to self. Alive to God. LORD make us all come alive to You as our Only---One and Only---Source of Life. My desires for righteousness, 2 Thes 1:11-12, are good and right but how to get there in this life must be reckoned with. I am not on the path for God to relieve all my suffering. I hadn't seen Larry in a while and saw him a few months ago. The first words out of his mouth to me:---"We aren't here to talk about your cancer, Bev. You may meet Him before I do (Larry has cancer too). We're here to talk about the Beautiful God in you that is using that struggle to uncover a rest in you. We're here to talk about God and what He's up to in you."
Wisdom begins with the Lord, and His truths about wisdom are written throughout His Word:
ReplyDeleteProverbs 1: 7a -- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge"
Job 28: 28 -- "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding."
Psalm 111: 10 -- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever."
Proverbs 9: 10 -- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Proverbs 15: 33 -- "The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility."
Ecclesiastes 12: 13a -- "Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is the whole duty of man."
Wisdom = Fear of the Lord
Insight = Shunning Evil
Have a beautiful day!
I love what Dr. Crabb told you, Bev. Would I rather talk about my circumstances or what God is doing within my circumstances? Where is God in my day?
ReplyDeleteMy dad (and originally, I think Eleanor Roosevelt) said, "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." Great minds (wisdom) contemplate bigger things than the details of our days.
Wisdom is illusive at best, but we know the Source of all wisdom. God is an earthquake: while absolutely terrifying He is just as vastly merciful. I am one of those who struggle with Heschel's quote, too. I think I know what he meant, but I believe CS Lewis' understanding: God isn't safe but He's good. "Not nice" is not the same as "not safe." The Psalms tell us "The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." The journey to Him is treacherous and we are right to fear Him, reverence Him, shake in our boots, so to speak. Many churches love to describe "my buddy, God" and gloss over the penalty of sins. We have to remember God is so much more.
Bev, thank you for such good prompts each day to get us to thinking about what God is speaking into our lives. You always spark something inside me with your words, your beautiful heart that quakes for Him.
Thank you, Kim, for the verses on wisdom and understanding. It's a good start to fear the Lord.
I've missed you guys over the past few days! Been busy and stuggled to keep up with the reading.
ReplyDelete"Am I willing to die to my blessings as my source of life?"
Ugh. I want to say yes. Badly. But I want and like God's blessings too. It is HARD to read about Job's trials and to watch him wrestle with God and his friends. BTW, awful friends!
A couple of verses in chp. 27 stood out to me: "I'll not deny my integrity even if it costs me my life. I'm holding fast to my integrity and not loosening my grip - and believe me, I'll never regret it."
That integrity produces hope, for Job and for us. Reminds me of Romans 5:3-5 "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Thankfully, we get to see what Job's suffering produced in him. I pray that God is using my suffering too. I feel very hopeful about where I've been and where God is leading me. Am grateful for His Spirit in me and the hope that Jesus brings.
I appreciate all of your beautiful comments over the past few days. (I've finally gotten caught up.)
And I echo the comments to Angie - I've miss you too! Glad you're back.
I would love to get to meet each of you. In many ways, I feel like I know you because you've been such an important part of my life this year.
"God alone knows the way to Wisdom, he knows the exact place to find it."
ReplyDeletePowerful discourse in these chapters! I can just feel the tension between these "friends" and Job.
And Job clings to his integrity. Isn't that what started all of this when satan begged to try Job?
And Job declares:
"Let my enemy be exposed as wicked! Let my adversary be proven guilty!"
That humbles me...that our integrity proves satan guilty and wicked!
Of course we know that...but when we persevere through our spiritual battles we are pronouncing guilt on the enemy.
Now that's some deep stuff right there.
And to top it all off...we can't stand for integrity in our own strength. It is the Spirit in us that overcomes.
There is no God like Jehovah.