The Quest for Wisdom

Turn to . From chapter 4, all the way until chapter 27, Job has been in a back and forth dialogue with his three so-called friends. They came supposedly to comfort him in his unspeakable suffering - but have ended up lecturing him, insulting him, mocking him and just plain, ripping him apart in their attempts to persuade him that the reason he is suffering is HIS FAULT - he has done something sinful, something wrong - and now he’s suffering the consequences. It “HAS TO BE” this way, because that’s the way God set up the universe.

Job has been defending himself - and the discussion has gone nowhere except deeper and deeper into argument. The exchanges get hotter and hotter.

In chapter 28, Job is responding again to one of the friends. This time, it’s Bildad. Bildad took another run at him in chapter 25, but ran out of steam after 5 verses. The last thing he said was that ‘man is a maggot and the son of man is a worm’.

Job’s response to Bildad starts in ch. 26 and continues on in chapter 27. But then chapter 28 comes and it stands alone. It’s a poem - a poem specifically about wisdom. And it reminds us very much of some of the other parts of Wisdom literature in the Bible - it sounds a lot like Ecclesiastes and some sections of the book of Proverbs.

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The theme of the whole chapter can be summed up in v. 12, “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” “Where can I find wisdom?” And that really is the theme of the entire book of Job: “How can I make sense of the world, when MY LIFE doesn’t make any sense?”

Job is about the search for wisdom - - “where can I get answers for the pain that I’m enduring?” That’s a question some of you are asking. When you are suffering – there is NOTHING more important for you to know than this: “Is there a reason for this pain? Is there meaning here?”

Job has lost everything: business, money, retirement plans, house … his children. His friends come along and give him their conclusion - - you’ve sinned.

Job says, ‘No I haven’t’ - holds fast to his integrity. Not that he is free from sin - but he is a godly man - that’s not his conclusion … that’s God’s verdict on him. It’s what God said to Satan before this all began - “Have you seen my servant Job? - BLAMELESS and UPRIGHT!” This is the godliest man in the entire world.

But here he is, sitting in the garbage dump, scraping his pussing sores with the shards of broken pots … homeless, suffering – alone – - the heavens are silent. God hasn’t said a word to him. All he can see is his suffering, while his friends are nattering their empty advice to him. He’s looking for an explanation - a metanarrative - big picture view of the way things are - the world, the universe - to makes sense of everything. A metan. that puts, not just parts, but the WHOLE together. Why is the universe the way it is?

What’s the explanation - - when God seems far away?

That’s the experience of some of you. You are suffering. You cry out to God in your pain. Lord, WHY? And you feel like heaven is silent. You feel as though God isn’t answering you. All you can hear is the echo of your own prayers bouncing back at you from the ceiling and crashing at your feet.

And you need an answer. Is there wisdom that makes sense of this all?

1 THE QUEST FOR TREASURE, vv. 1-11

Job begins chapter 28 on a mining expedition. Describes digging down beneath the surface of the earth.

Verse 1, “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. (2) Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore ...”

Verse 3, “Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit … the ore in gloom and deep darkness. (4) He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives …

Verse 5 - “As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. (6) Its stones are the place of sapphires and it has dust of gold.”

On the surface of the earth, you pluck up the grain and you can make bread. Bread is important. You need bread to live … but you don’t see it as a treasure - there’s plenty of it. It’s easy to access – growing there in the fields, before your eyes.

But under the ground - that’s where the treasure is … that’s where you find the sapphires, gold … jewels and precious metals.

Some of you come from large families - and you have known some special challenges in your life. I didn’t. Growing up, it was just my sister and me. She was a girl, I was a boy (obviously); she was almost 6 years younger, didn’t eat a ton and had different tastes than I do. What that meant, was that when mom brought home some of my favorite food treats … they were pretty safe. I could leave them in the open and they would be there for me to eat, whenever I cared to come back for them.

Well, I’ve heard the horror stories from some of you - that you didn’t grow up with that kind of safety. And now, I have three boys - - three big boys - who definitely like to eat … AND, to make it worse - they have almost exactly the same tastes in food as I do. What that means is that when some kind of treat comes into the house … if it’s left in the open and not consumed IMMEDIATELY - the next time I walk into the kitchen - - - it will be gone. It’s as if there’s a built in vacuum cleaner that comes out, as soon as I walk out of the kitchen … and it sucks up every morsel of treats that are there.

And what THAT means is, if I want to enjoy a treat for myself, and I can’t eat it right away .... It MUST BE HIDDEN. And the boys aren’t dumb, either. So it has to be hidden in a GOOD spot. just hiding something in the back of the fridge isn’t good enough - it’ll be found. Hiding it in my sock drawer - not good enough. And, if the treat is something perishable - not very practical (Don’t think I haven’t tried though).

To be a good enough hiding spot, we’re talking serious vigilance and creativity here - we’re talking about transferring packages, camouflaging containers - cheesecake in an old cottage cheese container … this is serious business (unfortunately, I’ve just given away my secrets. That’s it for treats for me).

If it’s a food treasure in my house, you know that it’s going to be hidden … and if someone’s going to get it, they are going to have to go on a mining expedition to find it.

That’s why humans dig for treasure. Verse 9, “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.” Job is pointing to man’s creativity and great technological achievements in getting at precious treasures underneath the earth - - - “overturns mountains by the roots.”

‘sapphires and gold’ are down there. V. 7, “That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it. (8) The proud beasts have not trodden it, the lion has not passed over it.”

The greatest hunters in the animal kingdom - the falcon, hunting with its speed … did you know that a falcon is the fastest animal in the world - clocked at 242 mph? Oh but the falcon hasn’t seen the treasures under the earth. The jewels we mine for are hidden from it.

The lion may be considered the ‘king of the beasts’, but lions don’t know how to hunt for treasure in the ground.

Humans have found it. Even in Job’s day - mining was an important industry.

V. 11, “(Humans) dam up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.”

Human ingenuity (given by God) has done this. BUT - - he asks in V. 12, “Where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” “Where can I mine for wisdom?”

2. THE ELUSIVE QUEST, vv. 12-19

WHERE CAN I FIND WISDOM?!!! That’s what Job is crying out to know? Verses 12-19 describe Job’s quest for wisdom. He is looking for an explanation of the universe, in the time of his suffering. Job is having a crisis of faith … the suffering is undoing him - he needs to make sense of this universe … needs to know how this all makes sense. He’s on a quest for a meta-narrative - an explanation of the universe that fits everything together - -

What is wisdom? A question that the wisdom literature asks. Qoheleth. The preacher asks it. Wisdom in the Biblical sense is the power to see - the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, with the surest route to reach it.

Verse 13, “Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.”

Humans may be able to pull down a mountain by its roots and find the jewels hidden underneath - - but we can’t find wisdom on our own. That’s what the Bible says.

That’s not what the world says. People who worship science say, “Science has all the answers you need”.

What is the answer to the causation of the universe? Many people will tell you that the Big Bang caused the universe. Okay, well what caused the Big Bang? Science has no answer for that question - all it can say is that there was nothing before the big bang. That’s not good enough. Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century - legendary scientist, who was vastly more intelligent than I will ever be.

Listen to what he says In his book, titled: ‘The Grand Design’:

“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” Hawking writes. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”

He’s boasting, “We don’t need for a God in explaining the universe - because ‘gravity explains everything’”

.... well, he may have been a brilliant man – but that’s simply a ludicrous thing to say and hardly befitting his great scientific mind. To say that gravity explains the universe is no more an explanation than saying that the printing of a dictionary is explained by the existence of an alphabet.

Where is wisdom to be found? Philosophy tries to answer this question - Same question, asked maybe in a more sophisticated manner.

John Cage - 20th cent. composer. Wrote a very famous piece of music, it’s called: 4 minutes 33 seconds. Because it lasts for ..... 4:33

Maybe you’ve heard that piece? Well you couldn’t have - because nobody plays anything. The musicians sit there in total silence for 4:33.

It’s a message - He is trying to give an answer to the question of WISDOM - - postmodern or late-modern philosophy - - there is no one, grand narrative. There is no big picture to make sense of your suffering.

George Lucas - Star Wars: Lucas on meaning of life: “There is no why. We are here. Life is beyond reason.” That’s his philosophy of life. May the force be with you.

Epicureans - those who held to that ancient philosophy that is very much followed by so many today, whether they know the name of the philosophy or not: “Let us eat, drink and be merry - for tomorrow we die.” There is no great great, overarching story - there is no big picture - there is only now. So enjoy the now.

That’s the question Job is wrestling with here - verse 12 - is there meaning that makes sense of our existence in the midst of suffering or are we subject to blind forces of fate and chance. What do you say when disaster takes place? When tragedy hits … Valentine’s Day marked the one year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting. Once again we were reminded of the evils that humans can do to each other and the suffering that cries out for meaning.

Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. In the wake of that incident - Samuel Freedman in the NYT newspaper, wrote an interesting article. This was his title: “In a crisis, the Humanists Seem Absent” ... Have you ever noticed that? Where are the humanists in a crisis? They have nothing to offer, nothing comforting to say.

Does life have any meaning - is there any coherent big picture that will get me through this suffering? Here is Job … put yourself in his place: If this is all there is - if he started out so well – if he has worshipped and obeyed and treasured God for all of his life – and He enjoyed such blessings … things have gone so well, just as God promises …. And now – everything is gone?! Is this how a life of godliness ends? Is this it? If this is all there is – how does ANYTHING make sense?! What do you build your life on?

That’s where Job is. And, here are you ...wrestling with the same questions.

And all around you are your humanist friends – they reject God and mock you for believing in the God of the Bible – what do they say to you when your life is falling apart?

Imagine if the humanists came up and spoke the actual, logical truth of their beliefs to you in your time of loss:

Richard Dawkins, a renowned scientist and maybe THE leading militant atheist in our day – he speaks the truth of humanist philosophy, without pulling any punches,

“In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.

What help is that? Where is the comfort here? Not to mention - the irony … a designed argument AGAINST any design

The humanist message doesn’t work when there is a trial or a tragedy. It has nothing to offer, nothing to say with comfort - -

.... Does life have any meaning, any purpose? That’s what job is forced to ask. It’s what we are forced to ask when hit with a great tragedy. Great suffering - so large that it forces upon us the big questions.

Some of you are having a little crisis of faith right now - “Does MY life have any meaning?” “Is life fair?”

Is there any sense to this? Where can wisdom be found?

Back in chapter 18 - Bildad’s sermon - pointed forward to death – when we are all :- “… marched off to the king of terrors”. Death the great leveler - the rich, poor, famous and infamous - - everyone is going to die. 3 score and 10, 4score if by reason of strength. We are here, we live for such a short time – and then we’re gone.

.... the clock is ticking; time is marching on; tomorrow we will be dead; we will be buried and maybe forgotten. After a generation, two generations - they will hardly remember we were ever here. So what is the purpose and meaning of life?

The book of Ecclesiastes makes the point - If all you do is look for answers in the world around you, your conclusion MUST BE that, “all is vanity. Everything is vanity - it comes and goes, without meaning and without purpose.”

You end up on a road of skepticism that leads to despair. Job has gone down this road, he admits it - - Ecclesiastes chapter 7:15 describes the despair - “In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.”

I’ve seen both of these .... … In this meaningless life of mine.

Is that how you feel, this morning? You would never admit it in public, but in your quiet moments, when you are all alone ...

.... health, life of one you love is suddenly under threat. This is the one person in the world you cannot live without … and suddenly, the future is under a cloud. Why us? Why now?

.... or the assault that has left you with wounds that have never fully faded – and the person who is responsible for those wounds has never faced justice. They’re doing just fine .... So you live out your days with that sense of unfairness, hanging overhead like a cloud.

- - What is life? What’s it all about? What’s my purpose? Why am I here?

Job doesn’t buy the explanation of his friends: their worldview is that suffering is always punishment, it is always the punishment of God for something.

“You always reap what you sow”. “You always get out of life what you put in” - - that’s the only song they know and they sing it to death.

The friends have a terrible argument, but they argue it very well.

Job has a great argument a good case, but he argues it terribly.

, “I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.”

Sounds like an arrogant thing to say … this isn’t Job thinking too highly of himself - - this is Job - holding onto his faith that there is justice in the universe. His experience shouts that the universe is UNFAIR - that God ISN’T just - Job is clinging, by faith, to the hope that THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM .... God IS JUST …

God IS ON THE THRONE … and GOD WILL NOT LEAVE HIM HERE.

“I’m holding fast to my position here” - haven’t committed any particular sin that has brought this suffering on me.

This is something we all have to deal with: When the storm hits your life -- what are you going to do? … throw up your hands and give in to cynicism?

“I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;” “In the midst of my trial - I will NOT let go”.

What do you say to someone who’s passing through pain and trial and difficulty - they are godly people, people of faith, who love the Lord and follow Him - want him to be everything in their life - but these trials, difficulties come. And they are asking, “What's the point of it all? What’s the point of following Jesus?” You are at the point of cynicism - - cynical about life, cynical about God. Where shall wisdom be found?

- “”The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ It cannot be bought for gold and silver cannot be weighed as its price.”

You can’t buy wisdom. You may be a businessman worth billions. You’ve made it in this world - you fly in your own private jet, you can afford to build your own space craft and travel to the moon. You may be able to buy everything your heart desires ...

You enjoy the very best of capitalism. But can you buy wisdom? Can you order it and have it delivered in a brown truck - driver brings you a box - and it says, ‘here is wisdom’. And you open it up and you open it up - it’s called “Alexa” and you plug it in and turn it on – the blue light comes on – and she’s listening for your voice. This is the answer to all of your questions. She will turn on your lights, play you whatever song you ask for, order you a package .... so …

… Can you ask Alexa? “Where can I find wisdom?” Go ahead and ask and wait for the pause - and then hear her answers, “I don’t understand your question.”

Everyone is searching - young people, college students. “What is wisdom?” “Who am I?”

3. THE SOURCE OF WISDOM, vv. 20-28

Verse 22, Job says, “Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’” He’s saying that there is a hint of wisdom - - sometimes there’s just a little flicker pointing to a far greater reality - that there is a transcendent wisdom that makes sense of EVERYTHING … when you read a poem, or hear a Beethoven symphony, or you see a painting, or a photograph that is just so breathtaking in its beauty - - you are so captivated by it - so lifted up above the the mere physical world … that it makes the atheist argument that we are nothing more than the accidental coming together of random atoms - - makes the idea that there is nothing beyond us … makes it absolutely laughable.

Grand Canyon

.... there’s a little glimpse of wisdom. There is a wisdom that makes sense of all of this ...

BUT WHERE CAN YOU FIND WISDOM IN ITS FULLNESS .... the kind of wisdom that explains the death of a child, the kind of wisdom that explains a broken body, or the loss of a job and the feeling of worthlessness that goes along with it?

.... the kind of wisdom that explains the kind of suffering that Job is passing through

.... where can you find THAT KIND OF WISDOM? It is THE GREAT question that humanity has been asking since the beginning.

See what Job says in - , “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.” Job is beginning to get it, here. A hint of where this book is going. Where can you get the BIG PICTURE STORY - where can you get wisdom? - Job beginning to see that man, by his own efforts, can never plumb the depths of reality that includes things we don’t like - things like pain and suffering. But God gets it. Submitting to him, in the midst of pain and suffering - that is where wisdom will be found.

Do you see what he’s saying? Where can wisdom be found? It can be found in God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who created all things and sustains all things, who sent His Son to SAVE YOU.

.... GOD KNOWS THIS WISDOM. It’s not necessary that you understand this wisdom. What’s necessary is that He does. God KNOWS.

It’s not important that you know what’s going on. What’s important is that God understands what is going on … and that you trust Him.

See the conclusion of the chapter in v. 28, ‘And he said to man, ‘Behold the fear of the Lord, THAT is wisdom, and to turn away from evil.’”

Do you want to know what wisdom is for a human being? THE FEAR OF THE LORD

What does the fear of the Lord mean in the presence of suffering? It means scary-level unconditional trust in the love of God in the midst of the darkness. The fear of the Lord is scary-level unconditional trust that God is loving you even though it doesn’t feel that way, that God is loving you even though everything around you seems dark. The fear of the Lord is scary-level unconditional trust that God loves you in spite of how it looks. It’s trusting God in the dark, trusting his love in the dark.

- even when it hurts - - - you recognize that God’s purpose is Good .... He proved it in Jesus Christ:

– “Christ, the power of God and the WISDOM of God”

- do you want an explanation for all things? Look to Jesus ...

Where can wisdom be found? A God big enough to decree the rain and set the lightning’s course, is big enough to trust, when you are suffering and the world doesn’t make sense.

Let me tell you why that’s so, so important. The only way you’re really going to become better rather than worse in suffering is if you do that. Elisabeth Elliot knew about suffering: Her husband, Jim – Auca ….She tells about how she was staying at a farm in the highlands of Wales. She was staying with these farmers who had a lot of sheep. One time every year, the sheep had to be dipped into a big vat of antiseptic. Otherwise, the sheep would be literally eaten alive by parasites and insects. When Elisabeth Elliot watched the process by which these sheep were being put into the vat, she started to feel rather sympathetic to them. Here’s how it looked.

“One by one the shepherd would seize the sheep as they struggled to climb out of the vat. If they tried to climb out of the vat on the other side, Mack the sheep dog would run around and snarl and snap in their faces to force them back under. If they tried to climb up the ramp toward John the shepherd, he would catch them, spin them around, force them under again, and hold them ears, eyes, and nose totally submerged.

E. E. - - As I watched him do this, I realized I’d had many experiences in my life that made me feel very sympathetic to those sheep. A number of times I felt that the Great Shepherd, the Lord, was doing the very same thing to me. He was holding me underneath. I felt I was drowning, and when I asked, I didn’t get a word of explanation.”

What a great illustration. If I was a shepherd and I saw my sheep feeling like, “You’re killing me! You’re killing me …” You know, you love your sheep, so you’d want to give them an explanation. So go ahead. Just try. Try to give the sheep the explanation. I can guarantee you something. They will not be consoled by anything you say. Why? Because they’re sheep and you’re a shepherd. You live at a different level of reality. But if the sheep don’t trust that shepherd, they’re going to die.

The Bible says he’s the Great Shepherd and we’re sheep, and we know this in our minds. It all makes sense, doesn’t it? Intellectually, metaphorically, it all makes sense, and then we find ourselves being held under, eyes, ears, nose, and we feel like, “I have to come up or I’m going to die,” and he won’t let us up. Yet if we don’t trust our Shepherd in the dark, we are going to die.

If you can trust the Shepherd’s wisdom, in the midst of the pain, it will make you wiser. It will make you better. It will make you humbler. It will make you more sympathetic. It will make you better in every way. So, how you do that?

CS Lewis had a great metaphor in which he said if God exists, then we would relate to God the way Hamlet relates to Shakespeare. Hamlet would only understand anything about Shakespeare if Shakespeare wrote some information about himself into the play.

Guess what? We are, in a sense, in a play, and we have the great Playwright, God, but he didn’t just write into our history some information about himself. That would be wisdom, yeah, but he wrote himself into the play in the place of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life …” Truth. What he is saying is not just, “I’m a true person,” but “I am the Truth personified.” He’s saying, “I’m not just a wise person; I am wisdom personified.”

Now there’s somebody who has absolutely been submerged, who is absolutely being held under. He went under, but he went under not just a vat of antiseptic. He didn’t just go under our ordinary suffering. He went under the very divine justice, divine wrath. He was essentially sent to hell. When you see him being true to you in the dark, you can be trusting of his love, because there’s the ultimate example of it, and there’s the ultimate proof of it.

Job’s response to the problem of pain and suffering.

Job has been defending himself - and the discussion has gone nowhere except deeper and deeper into argument. The exchanges get hotter and hotter.

In chapter 28, Job is responding again to one of the friends. This time, it’s Bildad. Bildad took another run at him in chapter 25, but ran out of steam after 5 verses. The last thing he said was that ‘man is a maggot and the son of man is a worm’.

Job begins chapter 28 on a mining expedition. Describes digging down beneath the surface of the earth.

Job’s response to Bildad starts in ch. 26 and continues on in chapter 27. But then chapter 28 comes and it stands alone. It’s a poem - a poem specifically about wisdom. And it reminds us very much of some of the other parts of Wisdom literature in the Bible - it sounds a lot like Ecclesiastes and some sections of the book of Proverbs.

Verse 1, “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. (2) Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore ...”

The the theme of the whole chapter can be summed up in v. 12, “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” “Where can I find wisdom?” And that really is the theme of the entire book of Job: “How can I make sense of the world, when MY LIFE doesn’t make any sense?”

Verse 3, “Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit … the ore in gloom and deep darkness. (4) He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives

Job is about the search for wisdom - - “where can I get answers for the pain that I’m enduring?” That’s a question some of you are asking.

Verse 5 - “As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. (6) Its stones are the place of sapphires and it has dust of gold.”

That’s a question some of you are asking.

On the surface of the earth, you pluck up the grain and you can make bread. Bread is important. You need bread to live

… but we don’t see it as a treasure - there’s plenty of it.

Job has lost everything: business, money, retirement plans, house … his children.

His friends come along and give him their conclusion - - you’ve sinned.

Oh, but under the ground - that’s where the treasure is … that’s where you find the sapphires, gold … treasure.

Job says, ‘No I haven’t’ - holds fast to his integrity. Not that he is free from sin - but he is a godly man - that’s not his conclusion … that’s God’s verdict on him. It’s what God said to Satan before this all began - “Have you seen my servant Job? - BLAMELESS and UPRIGHT!”

That’s why humans dig for treasure. Verse 9, “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.”

This reminds us of Proverbs - wisdom literature. V. 12, “Where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?”

So here’s Job - the heavens are silent. God hasn’t said a word to him. All he can see is his suffering, while his friends are nattering their empty advice to him. He’s looking for an explanation - a metanarrative - big picture view of the way things are - the world, the universe - to makes sense of everything. A metan. that puts, not just parts, but the WHOLE together. Why is the universe the way it is?

Job is about the search for wisdom - - “where can I get answers for the pain that I’m enduring?”

What’s the explanation - - when God seems far away?

That’s a question some of you are asking.

That’s the experience of some of you. You are suffering. You cry out to God in your pain. Lord, WHY? And you feel like heaven is silent. You feel as though God isn’t answering you. All you can hear is the echo of your own prayers bouncing back at you from the ceiling and crashing at your feet.

ILLUSTRATION: WISDOM.

And you are left at the mercy of the world’s answers … the world’s explanations. Is there wisdom that makes sense of this all?

__________________________________________________

1 THE QUEST FOR TREASURE, vv. 1-11

Job begins chapter 28 on a mining expedition. Describes digging down beneath the surface of the earth.

There is a battle here about the heart and the spirit. But there’s also a battle about the mind and understanding. There is an epistemological battle here.

Isaac Watts: “His wisdom’s vast and knows no bounds ...”

Verse 1, “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. (2) Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore ...”

Where can I find wisdom? is an interlude - a search for wisdom. He’s lost everything: business, money, retirement plans, house … his children.

Verse 3, “Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit … the ore in gloom and deep darkness. (4) He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives

He has had his friends come along and give him their conclusion - - he’s sinned.

Verse 5 - “As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. (6) Its stones are the place of sapphires and it has dust of gold.”

On the surface of the earth, you pluck up the grain and you can make bread. Bread is important. You need bread to live … but you don’t see it as a treasure - there’s plenty of it.

Job holds fast to his integrity. Not that he is free from sin - but he is a godly man - that’s not his conclusion … that’s God’s verdict on him. .....

… but we don’t see it as a treasure - there’s plenty of it.

He’s looking for a metanarrative - an explanation of the way things are - the world, the universe, cosmology - to makes sense of everything. A metan. that puts, not just parts, but the WHOLE together. Why is the universe the way it is?

What’s the explanation - - when God seems far away?

But under the ground - that’s where the treasure is … that’s where you find the sapphires, gold … treasure.

That’s the experience of some of you. You are suffering. You cry out to God in your pain. Lord, WHY? And you feel like heaven is silent. You feel as though God isn’t answering you. All you can hear is the echo of your own prayers bouncing back at you from the ceiling and crashing at your feet.

Some of you come from large families - and you have known some special challenges in your life. I didn’t. Growing up, it was just my sister and me. She was a girl, I was a boy (obviously); she was almost 6 years younger, didn’t eat a ton and had different tastes than I do. What that meant, was that when mom brought home some of my favorite food treats … they were pretty safe. I could leave them in the open and they would be there for me to eat, whenever I cared to come back for them.

And you are left at the mercy of the world’s answers … the world’s explanations

Well, I’ve heard the horror stories from some of you - that you didn’t grow up with that kind of safety. And now, I have three boys - - three big boys - who definitely like to eat … AND, to make it worse - they have almost exactly the same tastes in food as I do. What that means is that when some kind of treat comes into the house … if it’s left in the open and not consumed IMMEDIATELY - the next time I walk into the kitchen - - - it will be gone. It’s as if there’s a built in vacuum cleaner that comes out, as soon as I walk out of the kitchen … and it sucks up every morsel of treats that are there.

And what THAT means is, if I want to enjoy a treat for myself, and I can’t eat it right away .... It MUST BE HIDDEN. And the boys aren’t dumb, either. So it has to be hidden in a GOOD spot. just hiding something in the back of the fridge isn’t good enough - it’ll be found. Hiding it in my sock drawer - not good enough. And, if the treat is something perishable - not very practical (Don’t think I haven’t tried though).

Leo Tolstoy - author of War and Peace. 50 years old. Wife and 14 children. Large estate, life is good - nothing could be better.

To be a good enough hiding spot, we’re talking serious vigilance and creativity here - we’re talking about transferring packages, camouflaging containers - cheesecake in an old cottage cheese container … this is serious business.

Has a crisis of faith - - sends him into depression.

If it’s a food treasure in my house, you know that it’s going to be hidden … and if someone’s going to get it, they are going to have to go on a mining expedition to find it.

He’s looking for answers: “What am I here for? What’s the purpose of life? “

That’s why humans dig for treasure. Verse 9, “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.” Job is pointing to man’s creativity and great technological achievements in getting at precious treasures underneath the earth - - - “overturns mountains by the roots.”

Turned to science - - can’t answer the question of causation. Why is there something rather than nothing.

Turned to philosophy - - - asking the same questions as science … but in a longer, more confusing way.

‘sapphires and gold’ are down there. V. 7, “That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it. (8) The proud beasts have not trodden it, the lion has not passed over it.”

Turned to spirituality - - - Some people love to live in ignorance.

The greatest hunters in the animal kingdom - the falcon, hunting with its speed … did you know that a falcon is the fastest animal in the world - clocked at 242 mph? Oh but the falcon hasn’t seen the treasures under the earth. The jewels we mine for are hidden from it.

The lion may be considered the ‘king of the beasts’, but lions don’t know how to hunt for treasure in the ground.

Turned to epicureanism - - - “Eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”

Humans have found it. Even in Job’s day - mining was an important industry.

Alive and well today.

V. 11, “(Humans) dam up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.”

Others decide there is no answer to the question … no reason for living … so they took their own lives.

Like the teacher in Ecclesiastes:

Human ingenuity (given by God) has done this. BUT - - he asks in V. 12, “Where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” “Where can I mine for it?”

____________________________________________________________

Job is having a crisis of faith. This trial is undoing him.

2 THE ELUSIVE QUEST, vv. 12-19

WHERE CAN I FIND WISDOM?!!! That’s what Job is crying out to know? Verses 12-19, is Job’s quest for wisdom. He is looking for an explanation of the universe, in the time of his suffering. Job is having a crisis of faith … the suffering is undoing him - he needs to make sense of this universe … needs to know how this all makes sense. He’s on a quest for a meta-narrative - an explanation of the universe that fits everything together - -

What is wisdom? A question that the wisdom literature asks. Qoheleth. The preacher asks it. Wisdom in the Bible sense is the power to see - the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, with the surest route to reach it.

What is wisdom? A question that the wisdom literature asks. Qoheleth. The preacher asks it. Wisdom in the Biblical sense is the power to see - the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, with the surest route to reach it.

Science posits an answer. The universe in which we find ourselves.

Verse 13, “Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.”

Chapter 28 - Speaks of mining - Verse 4, 7, 10 - Man the explorer. He can find copper and silver and gold. He can dig down under the earth and find these things - but where can wisdom be found? Verse 12.

The human race may be able to pull down a mountain by its roots and find the jewels hidden underneath - - but we can’t find wisdom on our own. That’s what the Bible says.

What is the answer to the causation of the universe? The Big Bang? What caused the Big Bang? Science, of course, has no answer - all it can say is that there was nothing before the big bang. That’s not sufficient.

That’s not what the world says. People who worship science say, “Science has all the answers you need”.

Philosophy tries to answer this question - Same question, asked maybe in a more sophisticated manner.

John Cage - 20th cent. composer. Wrote a very famous piece of music: 4 minutes 33 seconds. Because it lasts for .....

What is the answer to the causation of the universe? Many people will tell you that the Big Bang caused the universe. Okay, well what caused the Big Bang? Science has no answer for that question - all it can say is that there was nothing before the big bang. That’s not good enough. Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century - legendary scientist, who was vastly more intelligent than I will ever be. But when he boasted that there is no need for a God in explaining the universe - because ‘gravity explains everything’

In his book, ‘The Grand Design’:

.... well, that’s simply a ludicrous thing to say and hardly befitting his great scientific mind. To say that gravity explains the universe is no more an explanation than saying that the printing of a dictionary is explained by the existence of an alphabet.

“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” Hawking writes. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”

To say that gravity explains the universe is no more an explanation than saying that the printing of a dictionary is explained by the existence of an alphabet.

.... well, that’s simply a ludicrous thing to say and hardly befitting his great scientific mind. To say that gravity explains the universe is no more an explanation than saying that the printing of a dictionary is explained by the existence of an alphabet.

Where is wisdom to be found? Philosophy tries to answer this question - Same question, asked maybe in a more sophisticated manner.

Nobody plays anything. The musicians sit there in total silence for 4:33.

It’s a message - He is trying to give an answer to the question of WISDOM - - postmodern or late-modern philosophy - - there is no one, grand narrative.

John Cage - 20th cent. composer. Wrote a very famous piece of music, it’s called: 4 minutes 33 seconds. Because it lasts for ..... 4:33

Maybe you’ve heard that piece? Well you couldn’t have - because nobody plays anything. The musicians sit there in total silence for 4:33.

George Lucas - Star Wars: Lucas on meaning of life: “There is no why. We are here. Life is beyond reason.” That’s his philosophy of life. May the force be with you.

Epicureans - “Let us eat, drink and be merry - for tomorrow we die.” There is no great metanarrative - there is no big picture - there is only now. So enjoy the now.

It’s a message - He is trying to give an answer to the question of WISDOM - - postmodern or late-modern philosophy - - there is no one, grand narrative. There is no big picture to make sense of your suffering.

That’s the question Job is asking here - verse 12 - is there meaning that makes sense of our existence in the midst of suffering or are we subject to blind forces of fate and chance. What do you say when disaster takes place? Tragedy hits … EXAMPLES/ ILLUSTRATIONS

George Lucas - Star Wars: Lucas on meaning of life: “There is no why. We are here. Life is beyond reason.” That’s his philosophy of life. May the force be with you.

Sandy Hook tragedy. Samuel Friedman in the NYT - - “In a crisis, the humanists seem absent” .... Where are the humanists in a crisis? They have nothing to offer, nothing to say.

Epicureans - those who held to that ancient philosophy that is very much followed by so many today, whether they know the name of the philosophy or not: “Let us eat, drink and be merry - for tomorrow we die.” There is no great great, overarching story - there is no big picture - there is only now. So enjoy the now.

That’s the question Job is wrestling with here - verse 12 - is there meaning that makes sense of our existence in the midst of suffering or are we subject to blind forces of fate and chance. What do you say when disaster takes place? When tragedy hits … Valentine’s Day marked the one year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting. Once again we were reminded of the evils that humans can do to each other and the suffering that

You know the crazy people who show up at funerals with their angry, hateful signs, when soldiers are brought back from the war to be buried ...they call themselves Christians but their actions tell a different story. There are like 30 of them and they’re all related - but with the amount of media attention they get, you would think that there are thousands of them ...

Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. In the wake of that incident - Samuel Freedman in the NYT newspaper, wrote an interesting article. This was his title: “In a crisis, the Humanists Seem Absent” ... Have you ever noticed that? Where are the humanists in a crisis? They have nothing to offer, nothing to say.

What they say has nothing to do with the Scriptures ..

Imagine if the humanists came up and said ...... DAWKINS

Does life have any meaning - is there any coherent big picture that will get me through this suffering? Here is Job … put yourself in his place: If this is all there is - if he started out so well -

What help is that?

Here are you ...

Imagine if the humanists came up and spoke the actual, logical truth of their beliefs to you in your time of loss:

The humanist message doesn’t work when there is a trial or a tragedy. It has nothing to offer, nothing to say with comfort - -

Richard Dawkins,

.... Does life have any meaning, any purpose? That’s what job is forced to ask. It’s what we are forced to ask when hit with a great tragedy. Great suffering - so large that it forces upon us the big questions.

“In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.

Some of you are having a little crisis of faith right now - “Does life have any meaning?” “Is life fair?”

What help is that? Where

Does life have any sense? Where can wisdom be found?

Back in chapter 18 - Bildad’s sermon - - “… marched off to the king of terrors”. Death the great leveler - the rich, poor, famous and infamous - - everyone is going to die. 3 score and 10, 4score is by reason of strength.

Not to mention - the irony … a designed argument AGAINST any design

The humanist message doesn’t work when there is a trial or a tragedy. It has nothing to offer, nothing to say with comfort - -

Qoheleth - all is vanity. Everything is vanity - it comes and goes, without meaning and without purpose.

You end up on a road of skepticism that leads to despair. Job has gone down this road, he admits it - - Ecclesiastes chapter 7:15 - “In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.”

.... Does life have any meaning, any purpose? That’s what job is forced to ask. It’s what we are forced to ask when hit with a great tragedy. Great suffering - so large that it forces upon us the big questions.

I’v seen both of these ....

Some of you are having a little crisis of faith right now - “Does MY life have any meaning?” “Is life fair?”

… In this meaningless life of mine?

Does life have any sense? Where can wisdom be found?

Back in chapter 18 - Bildad’s sermon - - “… marched off to the king of terrors”. Death the great leveler - the rich, poor, famous and infamous - - everyone is going to die. 3 score and 10, 4score is by reason of strength.

Is that how you feel, this morning. You would never admit it in public, but in your quiet moments, when you are all alone ...

.... health, life of one you love .... assault .... living life with that sense of unfairness.

Qoheleth - If all you do is look for answers in the world around you, your conclusion MUST BE that, “all is vanity. Everything is vanity - it comes and goes, without meaning and without purpose.”

You end up on a road of skepticism that leads to despair. Job has gone down this road, he admits it - - Ecclesiastes chapter 7:15 - “In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.”

ILLUSTRATION

- “What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention?” Job is asking this almost from the point of cynicism?

I’ve seen both of these .... … In this meaningless life of mine.

… In this meaningless life of mine?

- - What is life? What’s it all about? What’s my purpose? Why am I here?

Is that how you feel, this morning? You would never admit it in public, but in your quiet moments, when you are all alone ...

“Gather ye roseuds”

.... health, life of one you love is suddenly under threat. This is the one person in the world you cannot live without … and suddenly, the future is under a cloud. Why us? Why now? .... assault .... living life with that sense of unfairness.

Robert Herrick, 1591 - 1674

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

- - What is life? What’s it all about? What’s my purpose? Why am I here?

Old Time is still a-flying;

- “What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention?” Job is asking this almost from the point of cynicism?

- - What is life? What’s it all about? What’s my purpose? Why am I here?

And this same flower that smiles today

.... the clock is ticking; time is marching on; tomorrow we will be dead; we will be buried and maybe forgotten. After a generation, two generations - they will hardly remember we were ever here. So what is the purpose and meaning of life?

Tomorrow will be dying.

Robert Herrick, 1591 - 1674

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

The higher he’s a-getting,

Old Time is still a-flying;

The sooner will his race be run,

And this same flower that smiles today

And nearer he’s to setting.

.... the clock is ticking; time is marching on; tomorrow we will be dead; we will be buried and maybe forgotten. After a generation, two generations - they will hardly remember we were ever here. So what is the purpose and meaning of life?

Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

Job will not give up on his belief system. He will not let go of the conviction that there must be sense to be made of his suffering.

Sounds like an arrogant thing to say … but Job is holding onto his faith that there is justice in the universe. His experience shouts that the universe is UNFAIR - that God ISN’T just - Job is clinging, by faith, to the hope that THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM .... God IS JUST … God IS ON THE THRONE … and GOD WILL NOT LEAVE HIM HERE.

The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

“I’m holding fast to my position here” - haven’t committed any particular sin that has brought this suffering on me.

And nearer he’s to setting.

When the storm hits your life -- what are you going to do? … throw up your hands

.... the clock is ticking; time is marching on; tomorrow we will be dead; we will be buried and maybe forgotten. After a generation, two generations - they will hardly remember we were ever here. So what is the purpose and meaning of life?

Dawkins, “The Darwinian Way of Life” .... radical, militant atheist.

“All that you will find in the universe is pitiless indifference!” You can sense that ....

.... universe wholly indifferent to your plight.

Job will not give up on his belief system. He will not let go of the conviction that there must be sense to be made of his suffering. , “I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.”

Where can wisdom be found?

Sounds like an arrogant thing to say … this isn’t Job thinking too highly of himself - - this is Job - holding onto his faith that there is justice in the universe. His experience shouts that the universe is UNFAIR - that God ISN’T just - Job is clinging, by faith, to the hope that THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM .... God IS JUST … God IS ON THE THRONE … and GOD WILL NOT LEAVE HIM HERE.

“I’m holding fast to my position here” - haven’t committed any particular sin that has brought this suffering on me.

Calvin lost patience with Job after chap. 27. Don’t give up patience with him.

This is something we all have to deal with: When the storm hits your life -- what are you going to do? … throw up your hands

“I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;”

Chapter 28 - Speaks of mining - Verse 4, 7, 10 - Man the explorer. He can find copper and silver and gold. He can dig down under the earth and find these things - but where can wisdom be found? Verse 12.

You’ve heard of the ‘patience of Job’. Maybe a better description would be the ‘steadfastness’ of Job. That word in : “In the midst of his trial, he kept on going’ … like the Energizer Bunny - battery.

Has a crisis of faith - - sends him into depression.

“In the midst of my trial - I will NOT let go”.

He’s looking for answers: “What am I here for? What’s the purpose of life? “

He has a belief system: His belief system is that he is a man of godliness, a man of integrity who has spent his life honoring and serving the Lord. He Loves the Lord.

Turned to science - - can’t answer the question of causation. Why is there something rather than nothing.

And God affirms Job’s position - at the beginning and the end of the book - GOD says that Job is upright and blameless.

Job doesn’t buy the explanation of his friends: their worldview is that suffering is always punishment, it is always the punishment of God for something.

Turned to philosophy - - - asking the same questions as science … but in a longer, more confusing way.

Turned to spirituality - - - Some people love to live in ignorance.

“You always reap what you sow”. “You always get out of life what you put in” - - that’s the only song they know and they sing it to death.

The friends have a terrible argument, but they argue it very well.

Turned to epicureanism - - - “Eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”

Job has a great argument a good case, but he argues it terribly.

Alive and well today.

Others decide there is no answer to the question … no reason for living … so they took their own lives.

“I hold fast my righteousness ...”

What do you say to someone who’s passing through pain and trial and difficulty - they are godly people, people of faith, who love the Lord and follow Him - want him to be everything in their life - but these trials, difficulties come. And they are asking, “What's the point of it all? What’s the point of following Jesus?” You are at the point of cynicism. Where shall wisdom be found?

Like the teacher in Ecclesiastes:

- You can’t buy wisdom. May be a businessman worth billions. You’ve made it in this world - eg. of the best of capitalism. But can you buy wisdom? Can you order it and have it delivered in a brown truck - driver brings you a box - here is wisdom

Chapter 28 - Speaks of mining - Verse 4, 7, 10 - Man the explorer. He can find copper and silver and gold. He can dig down under the earth and find these things - but where can wisdom be found? Verse 12.

Calvin lost patience with Job after chap. 27. Don’t give up patience with him.

Can you ask Alexa? “Where can I find wisdom?” And she answers, “I don’t understand your question.”

“I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;”

Everyone is searching - young people, college students. “What is wisdom?” “Who am I?”

You’ve heard of the ‘patience of Job’. Maybe a better description would be the ‘steadfastness’ of Job. That word in : “In the midst of his trial, he kept on going’ … like the Energizer Bunny - battery.

Verse 22, Job says, “Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’” He’s saying that there is a hint of wisdom - - sometimes there’s just a little flicker pointing to a far greater reality - that there is a transcendant wisdom that makes sense of EVERYTHING … when you read a poem, or hear a symphony, or you see a painting, or a photograph that is just so breathtaking in its beauty - - you are so captivated by it - so lifted up above the the mere physical world … that it makes the atheist argument that we are nothing more than the accidental coming together of random atoms - - makes the idea that there is nothing beyond us … makes it absolutely laughable.

“In the midst of my trial - I will NOT let go”.

There is a wisdom that makes sense of all of this ...

Man’s great achievements - ability to map the human genome, to write a great symphony, like Beethoven, or pain like

He has a belief system: His belief system is that he is a man of godliness, a man of integrity who has spent his life honoring and serving the Lord. He Loves the Lord.

.... there’s a little glimpse of wisdom.

And God affirms Job’s position - at the beginning and the end of the book - GOD says that Job is upright and blameless.

BUT WHERE CAN YOU FIND WISDOM IN ITS FULLNESS .... the kind of wisdom that explains the death of a child, the kind of wisdom that explains a broken body, or the loss of a job and the feeling of worthlessness that

Job doesn’t buy the explanation of his friends: their worldview is that suffering is always punishment, it is always the punishment of God for something.

.... the kind of wisdom that explains the kind of suffering that Job is passing through

“You always reap what you sow”. “You always get out of life what you put in” - - that’s the only song they know and they sing it to death.

The friends have a terrible argument, but they argue it very well.

.... where can you find THAT KIND OF WISDOM?

Job has a great argument a good case, but he argues it terribly.

See what Job says in - , “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.” Job is beginning to get it, here. A hint of where this book is going. Where can you get the metanarrative - Job beginning to see that man, by his own efforts, can never plumb the depths of reality that includes things we don’t like - things like pain and suffering. But God gets it. Submitting to him, in the midst of pain and suffering - that is where wisdom will be found.

Do you see what he’s saying? Where can wisdom be found? It can be found in God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who created all things and sustains all things, who sent His Son

“I hold fast my righteousness ...”

What do you say to someone who’s passing through pain and trial and difficulty - they are godly people, people of faith, who love the Lord and follow Him - want him to be everything in their life - but these trials, difficulties come. And they are asking, “What's the point of it all? What’s the point of following Jesus?” You are at the point of cynicism - - cynical about life, cynical about God. Where shall wisdom be found?

.... GOD KNOWS THIS WISDOM. It’s not necessary that you understand this wisdom. What’s necessary is that He does. God KNOWS.

This question is the great question that humanity has been asking since the beginning.

- “”The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ It cannot be bought for gold and silver cannot be weighed as its price.”

It’s not important that you know what’s going on. What’s important is that God understands what is going on … and that you trust Him.

You can’t buy wisdom. May be a businessman worth billions. You’ve made it in this world - you fly in your own private jet, you can afford to build your own space craft and travel to the moon. You may be able to buy everything your heart desires ...

eg. of the best of capitalism. But can you buy wisdom? Can you order it and have it delivered in a brown truck - driver brings you a box - and it says, ‘here is wisdom’. And you open it up and you open it up - it’s called “Alexa” and you plug it in and turn it on - this is the answer to all of your questions. She will turn on your lights, play you whatever song you ask for, order you a package .... so,

See the conclusion of the chapter in v. 28, ‘And he said to man, ‘Behold the fear of the Lord, THAT is wisdom, and to turn away from evil.’”

Can you ask Alexa? “Where can I find wisdom?” Go ahead and ask and wait for the pause - and then hear her answers, “I don’t understand your question.”

Do you want to know what wisdom is for a human being? THE FEAR OF THE LORD

… it’s a relational thing - to be thrilled by Him

Everyone is searching - young people, college students. “What is wisdom?” “Who am I?”

_____________________________________________________________

3 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM, vv. 20-28

That you trust Him - - - even when things look bad - - even when it hurts - - - you recognize that God’s purpose is Good ....

Verse 22, Job says, “Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’” He’s saying that there is a hint of wisdom - - sometimes there’s just a little flicker pointing to a far greater reality - that there is a transcendant wisdom that makes sense of EVERYTHING … when you read a poem, or hear a Beethoven symphony, or you see a painting, or a photograph that is just so breathtaking in its beauty - - you are so captivated by it - so lifted up above the the mere physical world … that it makes the atheist argument that we are nothing more than the accidental coming together of random atoms - - makes the idea that there is nothing beyond us … makes it absolutely laughable.

Grand Canyon

.... there’s a little glimpse of wisdom. There is a wisdom that makes sense of all of this ...

- do you want an explanantion for all things? Look to Jesus ...

There is a wisdom that makes sense of all of this ...

Where can wisdom be found?

BUT WHERE CAN YOU FIND WISDOM IN ITS FULLNESS .... the kind of wisdom that explains the death of a child, the kind of wisdom that explains a broken body, or the loss of a job and the feeling of worthlessness that goes along with it?

.... the kind of wisdom that explains the kind of suffering that Job is passing through

.... where can you find THAT KIND OF WISDOM?

See what Job says in - , “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.” Job is beginning to get it, here. A hint of where this book is going. Where can you get the BIG PICTURE STORY - where can you get wisdom? - Job beginning to see that man, by his own efforts, can never plumb the depths of reality that includes things we don’t like - things like pain and suffering. But God gets it. Submitting to him, in the midst of pain and suffering - that is where wisdom will be found.

Do you see what he’s saying? Where can wisdom be found? It can be found in God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who created all things and sustains all things, who sent His Son

.... GOD KNOWS THIS WISDOM. It’s not necessary that you understand this wisdom. What’s necessary is that He does. God KNOWS.

This question is the great question that humanity has been asking since the beginning.

It’s not important that you know what’s going on. What’s important is that God understands what is going on … and that you trust Him.

See the conclusion of the chapter in v. 28, ‘And he said to man, ‘Behold the fear of the Lord, THAT is wisdom, and to turn away from evil.’”

Do you want to know what wisdom is for a human being? THE FEAR OF THE LORD

… it’s a relational thing - to be thrilled by Him

That you trust Him - - - even when things look bad - - even when it hurts - - - you recognize that God’s purpose is Good ....

- do you want an explanation for all things? Look to Jesus ...

Where can wisdom be found? A God big enough to decree the rain and set the lightning’s course, is big enough to trust, when you are suffering and the world doesn’t make sense.

The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

What does the fear of the Lord mean in the presence of suffering? It means scary-level unconditional trust in the love of God in the midst of the darkness. The fear of the Lord is scary-level unconditional trust that God is loving you even though it doesn’t feel that way, that God is loving you even though everything around you seems dark. The fear of the Lord is scary-level unconditional trust that God loves you in spite of how it looks. It’s trusting God in the dark, trusting his love in the dark.

Let me tell you why that’s so, so important. The only way you’re really going to become better rather than worse in suffering is if you do that. I still can’t come up with a better illustration than the one Elisabeth Elliot tells about how she was staying at a farm in the highlands of Wales, a place Kathy and I have been to, basically. Not the farm, but in that valley.

She was staying with these farmers who had a lot of sheep. One time every year, the sheep had to be dipped into a big vat of antiseptic. Otherwise, the sheep would be literally eaten alive by parasites and insects. When Elisabeth Elliot watched the process by which these sheep were being put into the vat, she started to feel rather sympathetic to them. Here’s how it looked.

To paraphrase, she says, “One by one the shepherd would seize the sheep as they struggled to climb out of the vat. If they tried to climb out of the vat on the other side, Mack the sheep dog would run around and snarl and snap in their faces to force them back under. If they tried to climb up the ramp toward John the shepherd, he would catch them, spin them around, force them under again, and hold them ears, eyes, and nose totally submerged.

As I watched him do this, I realized I’d had many experiences in my life that made me feel very sympathetic to those sheep. A number of times I felt that the Great Shepherd, the Lord, was doing the very same thing to me. He was holding me underneath. I felt I was drowning, and when I asked, I didn’t get a word of explanation.”

Let me tell you why that metaphor is so good. If I was a shepherd and I saw my sheep feeling like, “You’re killing me! You’re killing me …” You know, you love your sheep, so you’d want to give them an explanation. So go ahead. Just try. Try to give the sheep the explanation. I can guarantee you something. They will not be consoled by anything you say. Why? Because they’re sheep and you’re a shepherd. It’s a different order of reality. Yet if those sheep don’t trust that shepherd, they’re going to die.

The Bible says he’s the Great Shepherd and we’re sheep, and we know this in our minds. It all makes sense, doesn’t it? Intellectually, metaphorically, it all makes sense, and then we find ourselves being held under, eyes, ears, nose, and we feel like, “I have to come up or I’m going to die,” and he won’t let us up. Yet if we don’t trust our Shepherd in the dark, we are going to die.

If you can trust the Shepherd in the midst of the pain, it will make you wiser. It will make you better. It will make you humbler. It will make you more sympathetic. It will make you better in every way. My question, then, finally is … How do you do it? Here’s how you do it. Remember how I said a minute ago Lewis had this wonderful metaphor in which he said if God exists, then we would relate to God the way Hamlet relates to Shakespeare? Hamlet would only understand anything about Shakespeare if Shakespeare wrote some information about himself into the play.

Guess what? We are, in a sense, in a play, and we have the great Playwright, God, but he didn’t just write into our history some information about himself. That would be wisdom, yeah, but he wrote himself into the play in the place of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life …” Truth. What he is saying is not just, “I’m a true person,” but “I am the Truth personified.” He’s saying, “I’m not just a wise person; I am wisdom personified.”

The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

Now there’s somebody who has absolutely been submerged, who is absolutely being held under. He went under, but he went under not just a vat of antiseptic. He didn’t just go under our ordinary suffering. He went under the very divine justice, divine wrath. He was essentially sent to hell. When you see him being true to you in the dark, you can be trusting of his love, because there’s the ultimate example of it, and there’s the ultimate proof of it.