Fear of the Lord, that is wisdom

I have been reading in Job lately... and there is so much that has stood out to me but I don't have time to write it all today. I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you.

How prideful we (humans) can be -look at how we judge and seek to exalt ourselves (our thoughts, actions, etc.). How little is our understanding and awe of God (for the most part)...


“And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.’” Job 28:28 (NASB)

Sometimes I just miss it... I am too wrapped up in myself, my plans, my thoughts, etc... and I miss what this life is really all about. And it isn't about me! My friend, Lisa and I were talking yesterday about a multitude of things - but this blog brings to mind our discussion of the Church... how often times now the churches are trying to bring in the masses... and in doing so, often are catering to them - pleasant messages, emotional ones... Not that in our spiritual journey we do not need milk but we also need the meat. We need to progress... and to not take only pieces of the message presented in the Word but we need to present the Word in its entirety. Yes, we need grace and mercy but we also need to be convicted and rebuked. If you only do one you are missing it - you are missing the big picture. You are missing out on who God is fully and missing His message. A great example of this is parenting... I am sure you have seen examples of both where parents go to one extreme or another - and I am sure like me you have seen the results... You need both!

I have noticed too that we try to reason our way to who we think God should be and what He should do... but who are we to do that!?! We are the clay and He is the potter! How can we even think that we, the creation could tell our Creator what is best!? How can we think to judge our Creator - to judge what He does or doesn't do?! PRIDE - people it is pride! If we fully grasped what we were doing we would fall on our faces and beg forgiveness! Look to the Word and believe what it says - Who God is, Who you are in Christ...

12“Behold, let me tell you, you are not right in this,
For God is greater than man.

13“Why do you complain against Him
That He does not give an account of all His doings?

14“Indeed God speaks once,
Or twice, yet no one notices it.

15“In a dream, a vision of the night,
When sound sleep falls on men,
While they slumber in their beds,

16Then He opens the ears of men,
And seals their instruction,

17That He may turn man aside from his conduct,
And keep man from pride;

- Job 33:12-17, NASB

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:9, NASB

Which brings me back to judging others... As I read Job's friends' commentary to him ... and how sure they were that this calamity that had befallen him was because he had sinned... I just thought wow - I am sure there has been an occasion or more that I have done this same thing myself... However, as I read I noticed they had no example, no action to rebuke Job with. They had nothing they could point to, to reprove him (let me point out reproving and judging are not the same thing - see a previous post of mine on this). No, they just had conjecture and the prideful assurance that they must be right and Job must have sinned - that they fully grasped who God is and all His ways, thoughts and actions.

Let us remember not to judge, let us remember we are not God who can search and see the hearts and minds of man...

“I, the LORD, search the heart,
I test the mind, ..." - Jeremiah 17:10a, NASB

"The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7, NLT

Seek wisdom and understanding - for it is far more valuable than gold, diamonds or pearls... clothe yourself in righteousness!