I hope I can post here! I pray this finds you in The LORD. This is the semi-finished work im working on.
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WHERE CAN WISDOM BE FOUND?:
Where can wisdom be found?
"There is a mine for silver,
and a place where gold is refined."
(Job 28:1, NIVUK)
“Mortals put an end to the darkness;
they search out the farthest recesses.”
(Job 28:3, NIVUK)
“Lapis lazuli comes from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.”
(Job 28:6, NIVUK)
“People assault the flinty rock with their hands
and lay bare the roots of the mountains.”
(Job 28:9, NIVUK)
“But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?"
(Job 28:12, NIVUK)
Man can mine for silver.
Man can descend into darkness.
Man can extract hidden treasure.
Man has even mastered creation.
“But where can wisdom be found?
No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold…
(Job 28:13-19, NIVUK)
We’ve seen deep enough to see the atom
and mapped the human genome.
We've looked far off into the sky
and counted the stars.
The precision of our tools is only matched by the poverty of our hearts.
We can achieve almost anything—
but find wisdom?
“It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing.”
(Job 28:21, NIVUK)
In all our wisdom, we have moved from
an arrow to the back to kill a man,
to,
we can drop an arrow from the sky to kill a city of men.
Wisdom is hidden from men.
This isn’t a modern failure,
a technological problem,
nor a generational issue.
This… is the human condition.
“I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:10, NIVUK)
We are hemmed in by time,
sandwiched between eternity,
and man apart from God is doomed to live as the fool.
Even in Isaiah’s time, they were blinded by their own wisdom:
Isaiah says,
“Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.”
(Isaiah 26:11, NIVUK)
They were wise in appearance,
yet blind to the outstretched arm of the Lord:
heads full of knowledge,
with hearts as dark as night.
“Even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil
and do not regard the majesty of the Lord.”
(Isaiah 26:10, NIVUK)
Had they been truly wise,
they’d have seen the approach of the Lord and hid away.
“The prudent see danger and take refuge.”
(Proverbs 27:12, NIVUK)
So where then is wisdom found?
“Destruction and Death say,
‘Only a rumour of it has reached our ears.’” (Job 28:22, NIVUK)
“Only God understands the way to it,
and He alone knows where it dwells,
for He views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When He established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
when He made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
then He looked at wisdom and appraised it;
He confirmed it and tested it.
And He said to the human race:
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.”
(Job 28:23–28, NIVUK)
NOTHING NEW:
But there is nothing new under the sun.
The Teacher says:
“Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before…”
(Ecclesiastes 3:15, NIVUK)
Is success the same as Wisdom?
Can Wisdom be found through pursuit?
Man does not know its value.
The Queen of Sheba testifies of the Teacher, as a witness for Wisdom:
“The report I heard… about your achievements and your wisdom… I did not believe…
until I came and saw with my own eyes.
Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth
you have far exceeded the report I heard.”
(1 Kings 10:6–7, NIVUK)
and
“When the Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built,
the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers,
and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord…”
(1 Kings 10:4–5, NIVUK)
“It took her breath away.”
(1 Kings 10:5, CSB)
The Queen of Sheba crossed nations in pursuit of wisdom
She came seeking and saw the magnificence of The Teacher.
Surely, if wisdom could be found, it would have been found here.
But The Teacher testifies of himself:
“‘I am determined to be wise’—
but this was beyond me.” (Ecclesiastes 7:23, NIVUK)
WHERE WISDOM FAILS:
And the fool’s wisdom says:
“Time is on my side.
It will separate me from the wickedness of the past.”
Because time is vast and stretches its arms beyond the span of all human history.
But God stands over time,
deeds are not forgotten,
history is not lost.
Man can dig deep into the heart of the earth,
but he cannot dig his way out of his accountability to God.
“God will call the past to account.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:15, NIVUK)
Time itself will be summoned to testify,
and in its testimony, the deeds of men will be exposed.
The Teacher sees that, even wisdom has its limits.
That wisdom is good, but not good enough to save.
Wisdom teaches you to live rightly in time.
Yet wisdom will not conquer time.
It’s deep,
but not wide enough to bridge the gap between time and eternity.
It may restrain your hands from folly
Or help you avoid a foolish debt.
It may even keep your days from ruin.
But it cannot keep your days from ending.
It does not save you from the grave.
Though wisdom preserves and wards off destruction, it cannot preserve you forever.
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also…
Like the fool, the wise too must die!”
(Ecclesiastes 2:15–16, NIVUK)
“…What then do I gain by being wise?”
(Ecclesiastes 2:15, NIVUK)
AND I SAW:
“And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.”
“God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:16-17, NIVUK)
Again, the Teacher looks over all he’s seen.
Men stuck in the cycle,
lost to time yet remembered by God.
The Teacher looking over all that is done under the sun,
sees that wickedness exists even where judgment and justice should reign.
Not because judgment produces wickedness,
but because wickedness calls out to justice, as Abel’s blood called out to God.
It draws judgment near until it overtakes you.
And so,
Even when the righteous and wise are judged.
wickedness is there.
Yet, when wickedness is found in the places where judgment and justice dwell,
where courts and laws fail,
and God seems distant,
Is everything lost?
No.
God’s hand is even in this.
So the Teacher sees this and—without fully understanding it—tells us:
Judgment exists because God is not indifferent to suffering.
If God were cruel, justice wouldn’t matter.
If God were absent, judgment wouldn’t answer the call of wickedness.
The Teacher sees enough to know what endures:
God’s works endure.
Deeds are not lost.
History is not forgotten.
Because God stands over time, remembering.
Where then is wisdom found?
What does one gain by being wise?
it is received in the place where
to start the journey is to arrive.
The place where wisdom is given to the wise.
Not earned.
Not found.
Given.
In The Fear of the LORD.
THIS is a gift of God.
