I bet you thought we were done with Job didn't you? Yesterday's reading finished the book but now
we drop back fourteen chapters, before God spoke, and look at the most truthful
thing Job said in all his many words. Mankind
has uncovered many marvelous things by ingenuity and the sweat of his brow, but
one thing eludes his efforts, wisdom. Wisdom
is not to be found in the same way as other items of knowledge. It is to be found in God alone and must be
sought from Him. True wisdom knows
things as they truly are, that they are only ephemeral in the sense that they
were created and a time will come when they are no longer. Wisdom cannot be found in temporal things, it
must be sought from that which is eternal.
Job knows what Solomon knew, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. He who spoke and called forth
all that is from nothing at all is to be feared and yet He created us in His
own image, for relationship with Him.
Isn't that the most amazing thing in the universe?
Jesus knows what is going to happen and his soul is
troubled. Even though He knows what lies
ahead, the suffering, agony, betrayal, abandonment and death, He still says,
Your will be done. Can you say,
"Father whatever it takes, however unpleasant it may be for me, glorify
Your Name"? Even at this time,
Jesus says that the world is going to be judged, the ruler of this world cast
out, surely that means that He will take His place on the throne. He speaks of being lifted up, and the crowd
knew that He was speaking of His death. They
can't reconcile the idea of a dead Messiah with what they know from
Scripture. Then, He speaks of walking in
the light while they have it and believing in the light. He has already said He is the light of the
world, they know what He is talking about.
Wisdom, real wisdom, comes from Him.
What does it mean that Messiah remains forever? We think we have a handle on what death means
but we should know from Genesis 3 that death doesn't necessarily mean physical
death. Adam and Eve died the day they
ate the forbidden fruit but they didn't experience it fully until much
later. Jesus will remain forever but
there is coming a time when He won't be with them bodily.
The jailer awakes, sees the doors of the prison cells open,
assumes that all have escaped and thinks it best to kill himself because the
Romans will kill him anyway when they discover the security breach caused by
his carelessness. What a shock it must
have been to hear the voice of Paul saying they were all still there. No wonder he was in fear. His reaction is to ask what he might do to be
saved, not from the Romans, but from whatever power had done this thing on
Paul's behalf. He was an amazing man,
taking them to his own home, caring for their wounds and believing in Paul's
God. Perhaps this was the man of
Macedonia Paul had seen in the vision. Paul,
when informed he was being set free the next day, refused to come out without
an escort and apology. Wisdom was in
knowing God had done this thing, wisdom was in also forcing the leaders to
admit their mistake. In wisdom is
strength.
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