Seeking Wisdom
Daily Old Testament Reading: Job 25-28
Daily Focus Passage: Job 28
People search for wisdom through various means. For example, people claim to have "street smarts" if they gain knowledge to navigate life through types of experiences. People seek to gain wisdom through education. These individuals seek degrees and engage in the official learning process to grow knowledge. Other people claim wisdom comes from living life and gaining wisdom that becomes evident with age. In Job 28, Job addressed the importance of seeking wisdom and where to find genuine wisdom. Job knew that true wisdom comes from the Lord alone, and thus he provided four activities to seek wisdom from the Lord.
SEE TRUE WISDOM
Job calls on people to see true wisdom from the Lord alone. He mentioned how people dig deep for various ores in the ground and find value in them. The reality comes that their value exists as a part of creation. When Job charges people to see true wisdom, he seeks to point people to the Lord. He wants people to see wisdom as not a product of humanity but instead for people to see it coming from the person and character of the Lord. Thus, seeking wisdom apart from the Lord is folly because true wisdom rests in him alone. Do you see the Lord's wisdom as true wisdom?
COUNT GOD'S WISDOM AS NEEDED
Job counted the wisdom of the Lord as the needed wisdom of humanity. He knew that the wisdom of the world lacked integrity and foundation because it flowed from the ways and opinions of humanity. Instead, he counted true wisdom from the sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful, creating God. As he counted the wisdom of the Lord as genuine and true, he counted it as the needed wisdom for life. He knew that the root of wisdom rested in one's resting with the Lord and seeking him. Do you count the wisdom of the Lord as the truly needed wisdom?
ESTABLISH YOUR LIFE IN GOD'S WISDOM
Job knew that the world never makes sense when people attempt to establish their life in creation instead of in the Creator. When people seek the wisdom of the world, their life becomes constructed on grains of sand that cannot stand during the turbulence of life. For the wisdom of the world to work, people must accept and adopt false realities and beliefs to reconcile various dynamics. Thus, Job said people must seek to establish their life in the wisdom of the Lord. When life is established in the Lord's wisdom, the believer trusts the wisdom of the Lord to stand the test of time and remain constant no matter the dynamics faced. Do you seek to establish your life in the wisdom of the world or the wisdom of the Lord?
CONSTANTLY SEARCH FOR GOD'S WISDOM
Job held that people must seek God's wisdom constantly. When one seeks the Lord's wisdom, one prepares to work diligently. Job understood that people would never grasp the fullness of God’s wisdom; as a result, the individual must seek to grow in their wisdom. When constant seeking occurs, people desire to see their lives transformed into the ways and will of the Lord by allowing his wisdom to become established in their life. Like the challenge to be a lifelong learner, believers must be lifelong learners in the wisdom of the Lord. Where are you seeking wisdom? Are you in the process of seeking the wisdom of the Lord constantly?
