You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
Job 28:13-14
13 Man ['enowsh] knoweth [yada`] not the price [`erek]
thereof; neither is it found [matsa'] in the
land ['erets] of the living [chay].
14 The depth [tahowm] saith ['amar], It is not in me: and the sea [yam] saith ['amar], It is not
with me. KJV-Interlinear
13 'Man does not know its value, Nor
is it found in the land of the living. 14
'The deep says, 'It is not in me'; And
the sea says, 'It is not with me.' NASB
The word for value or price, is 'erek,' which means to
set something in its order, to arrange, to understand its perspective relative
to some other thing.
Here it means to understand the purpose, meaning, and
ultimately the value, of wisdom.
Most folks think they know what wisdom is, but in fact
very few in this world do know or understand what wisdom really is.
Often times talent, ability, wit, humor, ridicule, and
other similar attitudes or human gifts, are interpreted as wisdom. Even success or older age, are often viewed
as attributes of wisdom.
The word for man, 'enowsh,' refers to mortal man, with
emphasis on human frailties, deficiencies, melancholy, desperate, woeful, sick
and so forth.
Man thinks of himself as being something more than
what he actually is. Thinking himself as
being smarter, brighter, more intuitive than life gives him credit for.
But Job places these attitudes in perspective with a
little very subtle humor.
Man believes that he is capable to doing most anything
he puts his mind to. It is not unusual
to hear the clever remarks, 'You can do anything you put your mind to.' 'You can be anything you want to be.' You can achieve anything you want in life.'
But of course it is those who actually achieve
something in life, that say these things.
Perhaps a few thousand or a few million people will achieve some worldly
'dream' in life, but that leaves billions who do not.
But that again is the typical view of people who lack
wisdom. They will take a very narrow
view of life, and extrapolate it such that their belief will magically apply to
everyone, even to the unknown. As though
their view or platitude (a meaningless saying or overused clich ), suddenly
carries the weight of wisdom, which it does not.
Having a talent, or having great wealth, having some
great position, or having been born into some high state of life, are not
prerequisites, nor attributes of wisdom.
Job states here clearly, wisdom is not from this
world. Wisdom cannot be found in this
world. Wisdom cannot be purchased, nor
can it be discovered by some pioneer risk taker.
Man can go to the bottom of the sea, or to the moon
and beyond, but wisdom is in neither of those places.
Discovering the secrets of the universe, of quantum
physics, of any science or technology that you can imagine, are mere discoveries
of the nuts and bolts, and order or design, of creation. That knowledge (the details of life) does not
constitute wisdom.
Socrates said that wisdom begins with the definition
of terms. Some look for wisdom in simplicity, or in how we ourselves view the
world, or in how we ourselves view ourselves, or in how we view others, or with
the concept of wonder and imagination.
But as far as the Bible is concerned, all of these
views are nothing more than views of the nuts and bolts of life's components,
or just invented philosophies.
Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord.
From Gods perspective, there are only two things we
need be concerned about. First, what God
can do for us, and second, what God can withhold from us. Both of these are phenomenal and beyond our
comprehension.
Since man does not live or exist in this universe as
an autonomous creature, we must look to the one to whom we owe our existence
and continued support. Without God, we
would not exist. Without God, we would
not have any resources with which to survive on. Without God, we wouldn't even have anything
that we could call valuable.
Without God, there is only one destiny for man - the
Lake of Fire, a region in which God lets loose all of the controls, and order,
and rules, which sustain existence.
Since man cannot even control the beat of his own heart, then
controlling an environment that is completely out of control, will be totally impossible.
But try as they may, most folks continue to go their
own course through life, conveniently disregarding the Bible, content to be
satisfied with their own views of life.
And, most folks will live their entire life with that
attitude. They are too stubborn to see
the truth, so God allows them to fill out there years on this earth, all the
while believing that they have discovered truth, but really haven't a clue.
Man does not know the value of truth, unless man knows
the attributes of his relationship, or lack of one, with God.
And, man will never know the value of truth, unless he
gets with a daily study of the scriptures.
We can all see the difference in value between fine
china and paper plates. Is it so
difficult to see the difference in value between Bible doctrine and all of the other
philosophies out there in the world?
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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