searching for wisdom

 

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Job 28:1-30:31. Job is asking where we can find wisdom. It seems that this is not a new problem! He tells us that during HIS time, which was probably around 600BC, people were really good at technology but not very good at being wise. Does that sound familiar? Seems that, right from the beginning, we had a problem with wanting lots of KNOWLEDGE, but weren't too keen on gaining wisdom.

They say that knowledge is realizing that tomatoes are a fruit, and wisdom is not putting them into your fruit salad. I feel like a better example is this: knowledge is realizing that Frankenstein was the DOCTOR in the story, not the name of the monster. Wisdom is realizing that the doctor was the monster in the story.

Today we very much have the same problem as Job. So many people have knowledge. The Elon Musks and Jeff Bezoses and Mark Zuckerbergs and Steve Jobses and Bill Gateses of the world have plenty of knowledge of how things work and how to profit from them. But so many today (including many on that little list in the previous sentence) don't have any wisdom. They have phenomenal resources, but they don't understand what the world needs - and what their souls need - to be happy and healthy.

Now, when we get to the end of Job, we're going to find out where to get this wisdom. So hang in there, just a few more days to go. But in the meantime, we can make great use of another verse, this one from the New Testament. James 1:5 says, "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives everyone simply, and does not reproach, and IT WILL BE GIVEN TO HIM." That's a promise you can take to the bank. When you ask for wisdom, God will give it to you. Why can you be sure that's true? Because God WANTS you to have wisdom. Of course He does. So when you ask for wisdom, you're just agreeing with God that you should be more wise. And agreeing with God is one of the VERY BEST ways to get your prayers answered. Why WOULDN'T God answer a prayer that is in agreement with His will?

God, thanks for showing us that we need wisdom, and we can just ask for it.

PS the book in the picture above is based on this passage from Job and looks pretty good. You can buy it here.