“God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens. He decided how hard the winds should blow and how much rain should fall. He made the laws for the rain and laid out a path for the lightning. Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly. And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’” [Job 28.23-28]
It seems Job had a moment of true clarity here.
True wisdom is to fear the Lord.
Real understanding is to forsake evil.
As I ponder these words today, I cannot help but believe that we, on our modern society, have no idea what it is to fear God. Oh, I think we have done fairly well to define it as a respect for God - but does not need our respect. Think about it - to respect someone is to give them your stamp of approval - to verify they are legitimate - to pass your judgment that they 'make the grade.' It is almost as if our respect for someone is to give them our acknowledgement that they meet our standard. Once again, God does NOT need our approval.
The fear of God then must be something much greater and meaningful than 'respect.' I think maybe some understanding of the "fear of God" can be found in the context in which Job spoke of it. Job spoke of the fear of God in context of a natural phenomenon completely and entirely out of man's control: the weather.
One can respect the weather all day long, but, if he does not adjust accordingly, the weather can kill him. Job gave us further insight into this fact in his tag statement following his definition of the fear of the Lord: "...to forsake evil is real understanding." What I am saying here is that we have two choices when faced with significant weather events: take shelter or take our chances (I am thinking here in terms of windstorms, floods, etc.). In other words, weather events require a change. And, that is precisely what Job described when he said to forsake evil.
Our modern definition and understanding of 'respect' does not impress me that it has anything to do with change in our lives. It is best described in the following statement: "I respect what you are doing, but I will continue to do what I am doing." So, again, the fear of God has nothing to do with respect!
That is exactly why Job went on to say, "to forsake evil is real understanding." Forsaking evil is an action. But, not only is it an action of the same kind, it is an action of a different kind! To forsake evil is to get away from it - wisdom requires that we get away from evil because evil brings the consequence of death. Change is required. To fear the weather is to get out of its way!
To fear God is to forsake evil because evil will kill us. And, Who controls the weather? God. Who controls whether we live or die? God.
Here is my conclusion: when the 'storms of life' blow, that is the time to forsake evil - that is the time to make change - that is the time to act - that is the time to repent! Herein is wisdom and understanding.
Father, thank You for helping me to see these things today. Help me to be active when responding to You. Let my fear of You really be fear for my life (temporal and eternal).
No comments:
Post a Comment