PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Job 28
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“The fear of the Lord — that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28)
Job is trying to figure out how God and suffering (evil) relate.
For many people, the fact of suffering and evil prove there is no God.
But Job knows that without God, there is no meaning, purpose, or hope.
For better or worse, Job chooses to respect God, and reject evil.
We live in a world that rejects God and denies evil.
Despite all our knowledge, we remain fools trapped in a desperate dream.
We can’t break our way out of suffering, and evil still shows itself daily.
Through Jesus God is revealed and evil is exposed.
Through Jesus we learn the wisdom of loving God and hating evil.
Not just in our heads, but with our lives, as we live in reality.
We can’t be wise without recognizing the place of God and evil in the world.
We will remain trapped and miserable, as long we deny this reality.
Knowing God through Jesus may not fix all our problems, or remove suffering.
But at least with God and Jesus, we can cling to meaning, purpose and hope.
PRAYER
Lord, life and reality are hard to figure out. In the meantime, I choose to cling to you and what you say about God and evil. God is good, and evil is… well, evil. I choose God!
Yes – I want to be wise – be smart – I want to understand! I love the way the writer lays out the various options of trying to find wisdom – the digging for it – we would add today technology – trying to find it in the DNA. Yes we can glean understanding and we do – but the more we understand or try to the more questions are raised. God’s design in the universe – from micro to macro is amazing – God made all things beautiful in its complexity. And he allows us to get near to him so that: “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” Thank you Jesus for the ‘way’ to wisdom!
This is poetry. What a beautiful passage.
What does is mean to fear God, how do I know when I love and respect him enough? I will never be without blemish and I’m sinful everyday – how can I have understanding? I am like a foolish child, I’m thankful Lord I have you.
In Christ Jesus I have life. Wisdom comes to those who fear Him. All my life I need to serve Him. In Him and only in Him does life have true meaning. He will give me strength and be by my side at all times. Today, as every other day, I need to live for Him Who gives me strength.
All of my life, I will praise the living God,
My heart full of joy, I will bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
And never forget his gifts.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
His mercy never ends.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
His promises he keeps.