I have had a few moments of quiet in the midst of all that is going on with Gretchen's illness and her and Gary's move happening in the next few days. The result is what you see below. The scripture text out of Job has amazing things to say about wisdom, as does the entire book of Job.
What strikes you most as you read this text? Does it answer any questions for you or make you ask any? Following the text are four questions about wisdom - how would you answer any, or all of them?
CHARACTER QUALITY # 1 WISDOM
Job 28:12-28
But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? 13 Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says, 'It is not in me'; the sea says, 'It is not with me.' 15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed in silver. 16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphires. 17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it, nor can it be had for jewels of gold. 18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies. 19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it; it cannot be bought with pure gold.
20 "Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air. 22 Destruction and Death say, 'Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.' 23 God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, 24 for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. 25 When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, 26 when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, 27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it. 28 And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord — that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'"
WISDOM: What is it?
WISDOM: Where can I find it?
WISDOM: How do I get it?
WISDOM: What do I do with it?
From the Heart, Pastor Jeff
This is so fun...looking forward to learning with you all.
ReplyDeleteas we are with you Evonna
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to see what handsome, wise person you get to portray a character on Sunday...Seriously though, I think we can ALL use a little refresher on wisdom.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Joel. I think we will have more than a refresher on wisdom. God is in the business of radically reforming our minds (Romans 12:1-2) so that we can first think with Christlikeness to then live Christlikeness
ReplyDeleteTo have a leg up for Sunday, an additional Scripture we will use is 1 Kings 4:29-34.
Hey thanks! I was thinking while driving that I should look up what the bible said about Solomon's wisdom. It was a God given gift! So is wisdom something we should try to attain? Hmmm....
ReplyDeleteFirst of all tfgramma, I think it is not wise to read the bible while driving. We will address that very thing on Sunday. I am curious as to what anyone else might think about that great quesiton. A clue to the anawer is why Solomon was endowed with that God given gift? Did he try to attain it?
ReplyDeleteJust trying to get this set-up to comment.
ReplyDeleteIt worked - you are very wise!
ReplyDeleteHere are some sermon notes from Sudnay:
ReplyDeleteCHARACTER QUALITY # 1 WISDOM
WISDOM: What is it? Where can I find it? How do I get it? What do I do with it?
Scripture: Job 28:12-28
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. - Francis Bacon
If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. - Emerson M. Pugh
WISDOM: What is it?
Wisdom is a 1986 American crime film. It was written by its star, Emilio Estevez
Wisdom was the third single released in 1993 by David Gray.
Wisdom was 16 Volt's first album, also released in 1993. You would think David Gray and 16 Volt were not very wise to release an album by the same name in the same year.
A standard philosophical definition says that wisdom consists of making the best use of knowledge. As with any decision, a wise decision may be made with incomplete information. The technical philosophical term for the opposite of wisdom is folly.
In his Metaphysics, Aristotle defines wisdom as knowledge of causes: why things exist in a particular fashion.
28:28 And God said to man, 'The fear of the Lord — that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'"
Gen 3:6-7
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Was there a fear of God in their trying to attain wisdom? Zero! Afterwards they hid themselves because they were afraid.
FEAR
yare° "to be afraid, stand in awe" This verb occurs 330 times in the bible.
Yare° may indicate being afraid of something or someone. Jacob prayed: Gen 32:11 Save me, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me. This is what Adam and Eve had after they sought wisdom.
Used of a person in an exalted position, yare° means "standing in awe." This is not simple fear, but reverence, whereby an individual recognizes the power and position of the individual revered and renders him proper respect. The angel of the Lord told Abraham: "...Gen 22:12 Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Adam and Eve sought wisdom without fear of God and became afraid of God after gaining wisdom that was harmful to them – knowing good AND evil. Abraham was willing to do anything – even sacrifice his beloved son – because he had a fear – reverence, awe – honor – of God. That in and of itself is wisdom.
Do you respond to God working in your life the way the Israelites did after God brought them through the Red Sea to escape the mighty hand of Egypt? The people "feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses" Ex 14:31. Listen to their response and hear true fear of God: READ: Ex 15:1-12
Right after the 10 commandments were given – here is what happened. Ex 20:18-20
WISDOM: Where can I find it?
Job 28:12 "But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?
The question has already been answered. Wisdom is found in the same place that describes what it is…in the fear of God. When you exercise wisdom, that is where you find it.
WISDOM: How do I get it?
How do I get wisdom? This has also already been answered for the most part. But let’s look at what the wisest person to have ever lived did to get it. READ: 1 Kings 4:29-34 and 1 Kings 3:4-13
WISDOM: What do I do with it?
Ps 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. If we all ask God for wisdom, the kind that shows true fear of God – reverence, honor, worship, then the knowledge and understanding part of wisdom will be found in that communion with God that is found only through Jesus.
Great message yesterday! I enjoyed being the handsome (not so wise) person chosen to portray Solomon. I also thought it was very cool that when Evonna and Debbie came in, they both knew who I was dressed up as. Way to do your homework ladies! Now, I will leave you all with a little bit of the wisdom I dug up yesterday - "If you find honey, eat just enough. Too much and you will vomit." Those are words to live by!
ReplyDeleteWow! Joel, you were clearly type cast! I will go easy on the honey, thanks.
ReplyDeleteBut i have to add, on a technical note, that this is the second time i tried to get here and it took 5 tries to get signed on with good ol Google because those letters they have you type now are unreadable. But it is what we is, so onward! I also should add that i didn't even see these comments until today though i have been here nearly daily.
There is definitely a learning curve for us all -the letters are Google’s doing to keep us from being spammed I guess. And I agree, that the "comments" tab is pretty innocuous. I had to remember to click it the first few times.
ReplyDeleteHere is wikipedia on the above: A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. The process usually involves one computer (a server) asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade. Because other computers are unable to solve the CAPTCHA, any user entering a correct solution is presumed to be human. Thus, it is sometimes described as a reverse Turing test, because it is administered by a machine and targeted to a human, in contrast to the standard Turing test that is typically administered by a human and targeted to a machine. A common type of CAPTCHA requires that the user type letters or digits from a distorted image that appears on the screen.
so how bout that encouragement?
ReplyDelete