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 28:28
28 And unto man ['adam] he said ['amar], Behold, the fear [yir'ah]
of the Lord ['Adonay], that is wisdom [chokmah]; and to depart [cuwr] from
evil [ra`] is understanding [biynah]. KJV-Interlinear
28 'And to man He said, 'Behold,
the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And
to depart from evil is understanding.''
NASB
The word for man, 'adam,' refers to something that is
common, low, something that has no particular significance in life. That is humanity. That is you.
You are common regardless of what you think of yourself.
Of all of the intelligent creatures, man is currently
the lowest. Angels are the next form and
then there is God.
Behold, means to look up and pay attention. That is something that most of the human race
does not do. Job has gone through a
dialogue explaining the significance of God, His character, His power and
abilities, and so forth, but humanity in general ignores God.
Man usually replaces the true God with some form of
substitute from their own invention.
Whether philosophies or religions, it makes no difference, any
substitute is a false one, and anything other than belief in the one true God,
Christ, doctrine, and His plan is a false one.
And pursuing anything false is pursuing lies, not wisdom.
Wisdom is truth.
Understanding is the application of truth to life.
And there is only one way to gain wisdom, and that is
explained very clearly here.
Fear of God means reverence, admiration, deference,
value. In other words this means that
you believe in God so much that you have no use for any other opinion that
exists. This is simply positive volition
toward God, Christ, doctrine, and your spiritual life.
Understanding means divorcing yourself from those lies
of the world. Understanding means
divorcing yourself from the activities of the sin nature. Understanding means that you know that you
life is to be lived within the fellowship sphere, and not within the carnal
sphere of life. Understanding means
selecting a pattern of life, a lifestyle, which conforms to the spiritual life.
In summary these two go together, first you are
positive toward your daily study and you do actually pursue a daily study, and
second, you live by what you learn - within your spiritual life.
Wisdom is the attitude of wanting to learn and
conducting your life accordingly with a daily study, and understanding is the actual
living of your spiritual life from
moment by moment, day by day, year by year.
Once you begin to learn doctrine, then you become
acquainted with life, oriented to life, oriented to God, oriented with people,
and especially yourself. You come to
know that God can do everything for you, and likewise God can withhold
everything from you. That you have no
real power or control over your own life, except for your attitude toward God. And that is the very key to your life.
These last few days have been tough ones, weather-wise. All over the country the weather has been
having its way with people. Our power
went out early Monday, following an uncertain weekend of weather. We are on generator and candlepower for
probably a few days. The power company
offices and repair trucks are inaccessible because of high water, so repairs in
the northwest Oregon area will not come soon.
What can we do about it? Nothing.
So we wait. And that is what your
spiritual life is all about.
You study and learn, and apply what you learn to your
life. You hope and pray, and when it is
all said and done, you wait.
God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for the entire human history. Everything that happens in life, drives
toward a conclusion of good. Despite the
politics of the day, despite the media driven opinions, despite the attitudes
of individuals and nations, despite the weather, all things work toward a good
ending for you and for history.
God is pretty smart.
He invented atoms, and the rules of physics. He invented genetics and cosmic rays. He invented gravity and principles of
economics. God invented the human body
and the substance of every living thing.
God invented you.
At the moment of your birth, God created out of
nothing ('bara'), your human life and inserted it into your soul in your human
body, and there He maintains it until He calls you home. You don't keep your own life going. You don t
have any control over the beats of your heart.
Man cannot sustain biological life, for any time longer than God has
decreed for any particular person, let alone maintain the human soul.
We cannot control the weather, and we certainly cannot
control the very essence of our own existence.
But, we can have an attitude toward God, and therein
lies our future. We can either ignore
all of this Bible stuff, and therefore fail in life (you'll get your pass/fail
grade after the moment of your death - no do-over's), or you can get wise, and
pursue God, Christ, doctrine, and your spiritual life and guarantee success for
your life for all of eternity.
The circumstances of your life now are
irrelevant. The circumstances of your
life in eternity are what are important.
Don't mess up your life now, with stubborn opinions which have no basis
in fact.
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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