Is Anything More Valuable Than Wisdom?

Would you trade wisdom for a million dollars? Would you surrender all your wisdom for 30 million dollars? Is it worth it? Job, once rich, now poor, says NO:

“A miner puts an end to the darkness. He probes the deepest recesses for ore in the gloomy darkness. He cuts a shaft far from human habitation, in places unknown to those who walk above ground. Suspended from ropes, far from people, miners swing back and forth….  No bird of prey knows that path. No falcon’s eye has seen it… No lion has ever prowled over it. The miner strikes the flint and transforms the mountains at their foundations. He cuts channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure….”

“But where can WISDOM be found, and where is UNDERSTANDING located? No man can know its value… The ocean depths say ‘it’s not in me,’ while the sea declares, ‘I don’t have it.’  Gold cannot be exchanged for it, and silver cannot be paid for it. Treasures of fine gold cannot be traded for wisdom… The price of wisdom is beyond pearls… Where then does WISDOM come from, and where is UNDERSTANDING located? It is hidden from the eyes of EVERY living thing…”

“But GOD understands the way to wisdom, and He knows its location…. He says to mankind, ‘THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS WISDOM AND TO TURN FROM EVIL IS UNDERSTANDING.’” Job 28.

Job says wisdom is more valuable than ANY treasure—yet you will never find it on a treasure hunt. Even the deepest mine shaft will not contain it.  So how can you get wisdom? “Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

OBEY FIRST—then you will gain the wisdom to understand WHY you must obey. 

FAITH + OBEDIENCE = wisdom.

Consider friends who make bad choices: If you will not obey, you will NOT have wisdom—and you will not even understand that you lack wisdom—because you lack UNDERSTANDING.

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How Can I Get Rich Quick?

Proverbs says wisdom is more valuable than GOLD (16:16), more profitable than SILVER (8:18), and even worth more than RUBIES (3:15). Job says wisdom is worth more than GOLD, CRYSTAL, JEWELS, CORAL, and JASPER (28:17-18).

So where can you get this item of supreme value?

“There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.  Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. Man puts an end to the darkness, he searches the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness.  Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft, in places forgotten by the foot of man. Far from men he dangles and sways … his hand assaults the flinty rock and lays bare the roots of the mountains. He tunnels through the rock. His eyes see all its treasures.  He searches the sources of the rivers and brings hidden things to light.

But where can wisdom be found? It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir…. It cannot be bought with pure gold…. The FEAR OF THE LORD—THAT IS WISDOM, AND TO SHUN EVIL IS UNDERSTANDING.”  Job 28:1-4,9-12,15-16,19,28.

Wisdom is the most valuable thing you can acquire—and you don’t have to tunnel through the earth, risking life and limb to get it.  You acquire wisdom when you make right choices.  The fear of the Lord brings wisdom.  To turn from evil brings understanding.  You also acquire wisdom from scripture, 2 Timothy 3:15, and from prayer, James 1:5.

I have come across numerous get-rich-quick schemes on social media recently, each one an ad with someone shouting about their amazing program that’s better than everyone else’s, with so-called “proven results.”  But the Bible says wisdom is more valuable than gold and jewels.  Scripture regards true wisdom as the greatest riches one might acquire. And unlike the schemes on the web, wisdom is free. Here’s how to REALLY get rich quick:

  1. Make good choices because you fear the Lord, Job 28:28.
  2. Read and learn scripture, 2 Tim. 3:15.
  3. Ask God for wisdom, James 1:5.

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He is Not Safe. But He is Good. Job 23:15.

C.S. Lewis hid brilliant insights in children’s tales, as when the character of Aslan is first introduced by Mr. Beaver–

“It’s no good, Son of Adam…  But now that Aslan is on the move—”

“Oh, yes! Tell us about Aslan!” said several voices at once, for once again that strange feeling—like the first signs of spring, like good news—had come over them.

“Aslan? Why, don’t you know? He’s the king … It is he, not you, who will save Mr. Tumnus….”

“Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan is a lion—THE Lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh,” said Susan.  “I’d thought he was a man.  Is he—quite safe?  I shall feel rather nervous meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake. If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?”

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver.  “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

Job discovered the same: GOD IS NOT SAFE. BUT HE IS GOOD.

Job was a good man, a man of “PERFECT INTEGRITY.”  Yet God allowed the enemy to rob Job of everything.  And Job was left with DREAD, terrified of what God might do next:

“I am terrified in His presence… I am afraid of Him. God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me” Job 23: 15-16.

Job experienced deep fear. But remember the rest of the story: God came to Job, responded to Job’s complaints, then blessed Job with twice as much of everything—and decades of peace in which to enjoy it.  “God blessed the latter days of Job’s life more than the former” 42:12.  –And that was only Job’s EARTHLY life.  Never forget heaven—ALL of us will be so blessed, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to come” Romans 8:18.  Job’s earthly riches were doubled, and in heaven, he would have not ten children, but TWENTY. 

Remember: God is not safe. He is not predictable.  But He is GOOD.

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Mutually Exclusive.

“Mutually exclusive” refers to two things that cannot both be true. Each one excludes the other. For example, result A may happen, or B may happen, but not both.  A single coin toss may result in heads, or tails, but not both.  Faith sometimes requires us to accept two possibilities that appear mutually exclusive, such as Jesus being both human and God at the same time. Abraham wrestled with the mutually exclusive: God requires my son, but Isaac is the son of the promise—so God will not take him but will provide a lamb in his place.

Job also faces the mutually exclusive. How can God take from me my wealth, health, and children, yet remain a good God? He finds fault with God, yet never forgets that God will REDEEM everything. Job is convinced this life is not the end—there must be a heaven.  Finally, Job admits it: He knows God is good and God will make it right somehow:

“But I know my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth, and, after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God.  With my own eyes, I will see Him, I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me” Job 19:25-27.

In addition to “perfect integrity” (Job 1:1), Job has great faith. How many of us would give up on God if we lost our possessions, our job, our health, and our children? But Job refuses.  He KNOWS God is going to redeem the suffering; God is going to BRING GOOD out of this horror.  I imagine Job choking this admission out through tears.  He is mad at life, mad at God, but can’t pretend to think bad of God anymore.  He weeps and admits it: “I KNOW that my redeemer lives … I know I will see him and all will be well. How my heart YEARNS for that day.”

God, we put our hope in you—no matter what we face! You REDEEM us. You fix it. You wipe away every tear. You are our hope. We yearn for the day when we will see you face-to-face.

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Job Encouraged Himself in His Faith.

Job is famous for his patience. James writes, “You have heard of the patience of Job” 5:11. A better translation of “patience” is the archaic word, “longsuffering.” The man endures.  Job is also a gifted administrator, running a massive farming and trading enterprise. He is RICH. Moreover, he is godly, wise, and a devoted father and servant of God. 

But I also give him credit for scholarship, for doing the hard work of knowing God, studying, and gaining great insights. Why? Because his understanding of faith and salvation is generations ahead of its time. He lived long before Moses, probably during the time of Abraham. That means he lived before there were any written scriptures.  Yet he understood that God would redeem his life and bring him back through the resurrection of his body. Many Christians today don’t even know that. (The New Testament describes in detail that we will receive our bodies back in the resurrection, for example: “We shall be [united with Him] in the likeness of His resurrection” Romans 6:5.)

There was no written scripture available to Job, but apparently a thriving oral tradition. Even Genesis was not yet written down. In fact, Job’s book is the oldest book in the Bible. Yet, this wealthy businessman knows what the most distant hours of the future hold. Not only that, he hangs onto his faith though he admits that he’s hurting so bad he wants to die.

He FIGHTS for his faith, encouraging himself:

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end, HE will stand upon the earth, and though my skin be destroyed [in the grave] yet in my flesh, I will SEE GOD. With these two eyes I shall see Him, I and not another. How my heart yearns for that day” 19:25-27.

Job had amazing faith in the midst of the most devastating losses. 

Learn the skill of encouraging yourself. When you are sad and hurting, do like Job: talk to God honestly about your pain. Then talk to God—and yourself—about your faith, and about how great He is, in spite of your hurts. Encourage yourself with scripture. “I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth!” Amen!

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Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God!

Job lost his riches, his ten children, and his health. And Job was a man so righteous that God told Satan there was no one like Job on the whole earth (Job 1:8, 2:3). Clearly a man that righteous deserved an easy life. But God had other plans.


So is God unjust?

Job’s friends were sure God could not be unfair, so they assumed Job was hiding sin in his heart. One had the gall to tell Job that his children had sinned too, and that’s why God took them (see Job 8:4). But Job knew he and his children were innocent. So Job said God was unfair.

“It is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net…. He uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me, and He regards me as one of His enemies.” Job 19:6, 10-11.

Job literally said, “God has wronged me.” Is Job correct? Did God wrong Job? Job and his friends saw only two possible answers: Either (1) Job had sinned gravely and God was giving him the just payment for those sins, or (2) Job was innocent and God was unfair.

Could there be a third option? Can we suffer horribly, not deserve it, and God remain just?

Yes.

God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). His ways are “past finding out” (Romans 11:33). That is all we need to know—Job is innocent (as God said to Satan above) and God lets him suffer anyway. We must accept that we can’t figure out God, and we have no right to sit in judgment over Him and say whether He is just or unjust.

Who are you, oh man, who answers back to God? Who do you think you are? The pot does not say to the potter, “Why are you making me this way?” Romans 9:20,21.

In the words of the old poem-turned-play: “Your arm’s too short to box with God!”

It is not our role to question Him.

But there is more: Heaven. Did you forget? This life is NOT all there is. Believers who lived in the time of Job knew little about Heaven. But that is the key: Job will receive justice and blessings in Heaven. Heaven is the good side of the tapestry. This life is like the back side of a tapestry or needlepoint—all we see is threads all mixed up and going every which way. But after we get to Heaven, the picture will be beautiful and everything will make sense. Our suffering will make sense. In Heaven, we will be blessed and we will be rewarded so much that it will be more than fair. And of course, this life is short, a dot in eternity. We think the dot is everything, but a line extends from that dot and goes on forever. In Heaven you and I and Job will be blessed forever and ever and ever. No, God is not unfair.

And Job knows that. In the middle of all his complaining, he affirms his faith. He knows that God will redeem him and make sense of his life and bless him somehow. He knows that God is good, and when he thinks about that, he longs to see God’s face. It is a beautiful statement of faith from a man who has lost everything and who just said that God uprooted his hope like a tree:

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end, He will stand upon the earth, and, though my skin be destroyed, yet in my flesh I WILL see God. With my own eyes, I will see Him. How my heart years within me.” Job 19:25-27.

No matter what you may be suffering today, God is fair. God is good. And He will make it right. God will redeem your life and make sense of the mess, even if you caused the mess. He is your redeemer, your FIXER, and He will fix you. And for everything you suffer on earth, He will reward you in Heaven.

Dear God, change our hearts. Never let us doubt you or blame you.

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You Can’t Stay Mad at God. Job 19.

Five men circle a tiny flame in the desert. Four sit on rocks.  A fifth sits in the sand, stripped to the waist.  He is covered with oozing sores, boils swollen and bruised like berries beneath the skin. He rubs ashes in the wounds, listening to a friend:

“The light of the wicked is snuffed out. His lamp is put out. The wicked man’s own feet lead him into a net—”

Suddenly the man stands up.  “Why do you crush me with words? You think I’m wicked?  It is GOD who has wronged ME!” He shouts.  “It is God who has caught ME in HIS net!” Job looks at each man, pleading.  “Look at me! My skin is ruined! My breath offends my wife!  My family finds me repulsive!  Children mock me!”

Suddenly he stops, staring into the fire.  He shakes his head, collapsing to his knees.  He can’t make another speech about how unfair God is.  It’s not true.  Or maybe it is.  But it’s not the whole truth.  He rubs a dirty hand over his face, hiding a tear.  He speaks to himself, quietly at first.

“But I KNOW my Redeemer LIVES.”  He leans forward, his hands in the ashes.  “I KNOW IT!  And when this story is over, He will stand upon the earth.  After I am dead and gone, He will bring me back, and I WILL SEE GOD.  With my own eyes, I WILL SEE HIM.”

Job leans into the swirling smoke.  He squeezes his eyes shut, causing tears to run down his cheeks, streaks of clean, wet skin leaving rivulets on his dusty, gray face. 

“With my OWN eyes, I WILL SEE GOD!”  He sobs. 

“I will SEE GOD’S FACE!” He says confidently.  “How my heart yearns within me!”

This man who has not stopped complaining about God for months, can no longer hide the truth: He KNOWS God is good.  In spite of everything, GOD. IS. GOOD. 

And Job knows: when we see God’s face, we will know the deepest, truest joy. 

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Have You Ever Been Mad at God?

Have you ever been mad at God? Job actually wants to file a lawsuit against God!

“If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times.  God is wise and all-powerful… I could only beg my Judge for mercy. If I summoned Him [to court] and He answered me, I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said… For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. There is no one to judge between us…. I am on my own.” Job 9:3-4,15-16,32-33,35.

“I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as His target… He has made me an object of scorn to the people. I have become a man people spit at.” Job 16:12-13; 17:6.

Job has plenty to complain about. He lost 10 children. But how can you take the King and Judge of the universe to court? What judge can hear that case? Only God himself.

But Job—writing the first book of the Bible—realizes what he needs, what we all need, and prophecies of the Messiah:

“I wish that someone might arbitrate between a man and God… Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate [attorney] is in the heights!… I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end, He will stand upon the earth.” Job 16:21,19; 19:25.

What do we need when we are mad at God? We need Jesus, “our advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1) who “ever-liveth to make intercession for us” Heb. 7:25.

Take your complaints to Jesus. He is your attorney and Redeemer, who spends his time arguing your case, interceding for you! Jesus understands your situation and constantly asks God the Father for mercy on your behalf.

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Is Jesus Your Attorney?

People laugh sometimes when they hear that I am a lawyer. “Oh, Jesus is a lawyer? That’s just not right.” It is jarring to them that a lawyer could pretend to be Jesus on stage.

And I always smile: “Well, you know, Jesus is Our Advocate With the Father.”

“Oh, yeah. I never thought about that.”

Have YOU ever thought about it?

You need a lawyer when a situation is so serious you are too overwhelmed to speak well or even think straight. Lawyers defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Before God’s throne we all need a lawyer. If we had to defend ourselves no man alive could survive: the stakes are too high and the judge’s power too awesome. No human lawyer could stand before that judge’s bench—they would fall on their faces, paralyzed by fear.

You have been charged with history’s most serious crime: the sin of rejecting God. But if you have accepted Christ, Jesus has appeared before the Father on your behalf. When Satan, the Accuser of the Brethren, complains to the Judge of all the earth, and charges you with every sin you ever committed, Jesus steps up as your defense attorney:

If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 1 John 2:1.

In the Bible’s oldest book, Job talks about a heavenly court. Job would like to go to court to file suit against God the Father. “If only I had someone to hear my case! Here is my signature [on my suit for damages] let the Almighty answer me. Let Him draft an indictment against me.” Job 31:35. “Even now, my advocate is on high… Oh, that a man might plead with God as a man pleads with his neighbor!” Job 16:19,21.

These are bold words, but then Job is on earth—he has never seen God or his throne. (He will soon see so much he will “repent in dust and ashes,” Job 42:6.) But right now, Job is suffering. And he is angry at God.

What Job really needs is not a lawyer but a priest. The roles are similar: a priest is the communicator and mediator between a man and God, just as a lawyer represents a man before a judge. And Jesus fulfills both roles: He is our Great High Priest, representing us before the Father, providing atonement through a sacrifice—but unlike other priests, Jesus does not merely PRESENT the sacrifice; Jesus IS the sacrifice.

And Job, a man who presented thousands of sacrifices to God on behalf of his children, seems to understand this. Job knows that he is the “high priest of his home,” and he knows what he needs: a priest and advocate who will speak for him before God the Father. Job saw the need, but would not live to see it fulfilled.

But we have seen it. Our advocate and high priest, Jesus connects us to God in three ways. He is our lawyer, He is our High Priest, and He is the Sacrificial Lamb who was slain for us.

“For there is One God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.” 1 Timothy 2:5. “We have an Advocate with the Father.” 1 John 2:1. “He ever-liveth to make intercession for us.” Hebrews 7:25 (that means Jesus stands before God ALWAYS interceding on your behalf).

Even better, your high priest is a MAN. He gets it. Your advocate has BEEN THERE. He knows what it’s like to be tempted.

We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet remains without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16.

Dear God, thank you that because Jesus is our lawyer and our priest, we do not have to fear but can come to you anytime, day or night, without an appointment, and even when we are at our most sinful.

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Courtroom Drama.

Like so many of the rich and powerful, Job seems to have spent his share of time arguing before judges.  Then after his life has been all but destroyed, he repeatedly complains there is no judge to hear his case.  Why not? Because it is God whom he wishes to sue. 

“If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God one time in a thousand” 9:3.  “He is not a man like me … that we can take each other to court. There is no one to judge between us” 9:33.  “I prefer to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God” 13:3. “I have prepared my case. I know I am right. Can anyone indict me?” 13:18-19.  “It is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net… there is no justice” 19:6-7.  “If only I knew how to find Him, so that I could go to His throne and plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments” 23:3-4. “Even now my witness is in heaven and my attorney is in the heights!” 16:19.  “I know my Redeemer lives!” 19:25.

Job knows God is holy and just, but also loving and approachable.  God is willing to hear our complaints. Job wants to take God to court and beg for JUSTICE.   

But God does not give Job a courtroom.  He could have—the book actually includes two scenes in which angels—and at least one fallen angel—come before the throne of God and talk ABOUT Job.  But Job was not invited to those hearings. 

Instead, God comes to Job and his friends and talks about creation, parading before

Job all the mysteries of earth and space, of science and weather and animals and every aspect of life on earth.  God dazzles Job, reminding him of His Creative power.  God asks, “Would you really challenge My justice?” 40:8. 

Job gets the message: “Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too amazing to comprehend” 42:3.

Stop complaining and rest in God’s power. He knows how you feel and He loves you.  Rest in that and worship Him through the pain.

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