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wisdom mine

Job 28:1-28 (JDV)

Job 28:1 Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.
Job 28:2 Iron is taken from the ground, and copper is smelted from ore.
Job 28:3 He puts an end to the darkness; he probes the deepest recesses for ore in the gloomy darkness.
Job 28:4 Far from where people live, he sinks a shaft, in places travelers have long forgotten, far from other mortals he dangles and sways.
Job 28:5 Food may come from the ground, but below the surface, it is transformed by fire.
Job 28:6 Its rocks are a source of lapis lazuli, containing flecks of gold.
Job 28:7 That path no bird of prey knows; no falcon’s eye has seen it.
Job 28:8 Proud beasts have never walked on it; no lion has ever prowled over it.
Job 28:9 He uses a flint tool and turns up ore from the root of the mountains.
Job 28:10 He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure.
Job 28:11 He dams up the streams from flowing so that he may bring to light what is hidden.
Job 28:12 But where can wisdom be found, and where is insight located?
Job 28:13 No mortal can know its value since it cannot be found in the land of the living.
Job 28:14 The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,” while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”
Job 28:15 Gold cannot be exchanged for it, and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.
Job 28:16 Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
Job 28:17 Gold and glass do not compare with it, and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.
Job 28:18 Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning. The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.
Job 28:19 Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it, and it cannot be valued in pure gold.
Job 28:20 Where then does wisdom come from, and where is insight located?
Job 28:21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the sky.
Job 28:22 Abaddon and Death say, “We have heard news of it with our ears.”
Job 28:23 But God understands the way to wisdom, and he knows its location.
Job 28:24 For he looks to the ends of the land and sees everything under the sky.
Job 28:25 When God fixed the weight of the wind and distributed the water by measure,
Job 28:26 when he established a limit for the rain and a path for the lightning,
Job 28:27 he considered wisdom and evaluated it; he established it and examined it.
Job 28:28 He said to mankind, “The fear of Yahveh — that is wisdom. And to turn from evil is insight.”

wisdom mine

Job’s therapists had claimed to be sharing great wisdom. They thought they knew his situation and what caused it. They thought they were helping him by their wisdom. But Job speaks of wisdom as illusive. He knows where gold and silver and precious stones come from. But wisdom can only be found with God. The book of Job challenges us to rethink our assumptions about how the world works.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5 ESV

LORD, we pray for wisdom. Forgive us for looking for it in the wrong place.