We live in a day where knowledge is super-abounding. To learn something all I need do is go to the Internet. This fantastic tool – accessible even to people in many third world countries – is an open door to the world’s knowledge. Choose a search engine – I like Google myself – and the subject, and you have all the information (and misinformation) that the world knows about it. You can go to You Tube and find instructional videos on anything from car maintenance to carpentry to zoology. Knowledge is so easy to gain. We have immense knowledge in the 21^st century – and yet so very little wisdom.

There is a great difference between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is raw facts. Wisdom is the ability to assemble the facts in a way that is productive and helpful. For instance, we have a great deal of knowledge on the Coronavirus – but very little knowledge on how to deal with it. The scientists and doctors told us, at first, there is no need for masks. Then they told us we needed masks. Now I am hearing that certain types of masks do no good. So what is true? The truth is, we are trying to restrain a gnat with a chain link fence. We need wisdom.

We know that racism is wrong. This is knowledge. So how do we deal with it? The world says, “Let’s riot. Let’s destroy neighborhood businesses. Let’s block traffic. Let’s act out, and let’s burn things. By destroying things, we can fix things!” Is this wise? No. We have a knowledge of a problem, but need wisdom to fix it. No amount of kneeling during anthems, or celebrity scoldings is going to fix the problem. We must have wisdom.

During this pandemic our Church has modified the way that we share the Word of God. As many are fearful of the Coronavirus, I asked the Lord to give us wisdom. As a Church we now broadcast to Facebook. We use a local FM Transmitter so that our most vulnerable members can sit in the parking lot outside of our sanctuary and listen to the services on their radios. We also have in-person services which just a few attend. The other day I was talking to a pastor friend of mine, and shared what we are doing as a local church. When I mentioned Facebook he told me another pastor he knows said they tried Facebook, but stopped it. Why? Because too many members stayed home and watched the services on Facebook. I asked my friend “What difference does that make? Isn’t the goal to share the Word of God to as many as possible?”. Beloved, our goal as God’s people is to share the Word of God with others. Period. That is what our Lord would have us do.

There are too many in leadership that have knowledge, but no wisdom. Which brings me to our text tonight, Job chapter 28. The Book of Job is a Book of suffering. The main character, Job, was a man who loved the Lord.

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and {rejected} evil.

And yet the Lord allowed Job to lose everything. He lost his assets. He lost his sons and daughters. Job lost everything, even his health. When Job was afflicted – an affliction that was allowed by God – Job responded:

Job 1:21 Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Job had no knowledge as to why he was going through these trials. When Job’s friends came to him, it wasn’t long before they began to suggest reasons that they thought Job was being tried. The number one reason they believed was that Job had secret sins that God was punishing. One friend named Zophar the Naamathite accused Job of not only sinning, but lying to himself, his friends, and to God. Zophar said:

Job 11:3-6 Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed? 4 For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. 5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee; 6 and that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.

Zophar had KNOWLEDGE, but no wisdom. Job had actually done nothing wrong. He was not being punished, but being refined. God uses trials to refine us so that we can better use the knowledge He gives us.

Where Is Wisdom To Be Found?

In Job 28 to difference between KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM is explored. What causes Job to search for wisdom? His suffering. When we suffer, we do not need knowledge. We need wisdom. Suffering leads us to seek out wisdom. Read with me:

Job 28:1-2 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.

We know that silver comes from veins in the earth. We know that gold and iron are taken from the earth. We have learned how to make brass by molting copper and zinc, and we know the difference between molten brass and molten bronze. Humans are made in the image of God:

Genesis 1:26-27 … God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

As humans made in God’s image, we have the ability to gain knowledge by experience. We know by experience.

Job 28:3-4 He {God} setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. 4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.

We know things. Humans know stuff. Yet it is God Who controls the earth. He controls the times and the seasons. It is God that allows the floods, and takes them away. We can learn where and how God does things, but we cannot make those things. We cannot make silver or gold, nor do we make copper and zinc. God does. We make nothing, but take what God has graciously allowed us to have, and have modified it and arranged it into something else. The God Who made us is the God Who makes all things.

Job 28:5-8 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire. 6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold. 7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: 8 the lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

It is God Who causes the wheat to grow. We have gained the knowledge to gather the wheat, to make the wheat into flour and bake it. But God makes the wheat. The same earth that bears fruit we can enjoy is also “turned up as it were fire”, it has fire underneath it. The core of our planet is fire. We know it, but cannot understand the wisdom that made it. God made it. God has made things knowable, and unknowable.

Our God is awesome!

Job 28:9-11 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. 10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. 11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

Job tells us that it is GOD that shaped the earth that we are on. It is GOD Who cut the rivers through the rocks. It is GOD Who made the Grand Canyon. It is GOD Who is OMNISCIENT, all seeing – “His eye seeth every precious thing”. God knows where what we consider precious is buried. He knows where the gold, the silver, the copper and iron are buried. God does not consider these things “precious” though. We do, but not Him. God consider life to be precious, for life is in His image. The Bible says:

Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

God considers His people, secured by faith in Jesus Christ, to be precious.

The woman who loves God is more precious than rubies (Proverbs 3:15)

The death of the godly, departing into glory, is precious (Ecclesiastes 7:1)

Our Lord Jesus is the precious corner stone of the Church (1 Peter 2:6)

Jesus’ blood shed on Calvary is precious, for it only saves us (1 Peter 1:19)

The promises God makes to us is precious (2 Peter 1:4)

The Heaven the believer is headed toward is precious (Revelation 21:19)

As we go through trials, Beloved of God, the Lord continues to watch over us. Why? Because we are precious to Him for Christ’s sake. As we, like Job, are tried, the trials are not strange coincidences, or accidents of nature. Trials come to make us seek out wisdom. Job, tried, sought for wisdom. Hear his words:

Job 28:12-22 But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? 13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. 14 The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. 15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. 16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. 17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. 20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? 21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. 22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

Illustrate Wisdom is the most valuable thing in the world. It is more valuable than gold or silver, and cannot be found in the earth or in the seas. Destruction and death have heard of wisdom, but have never met it. A good example of this was when Category 5 Hurricane Katrina hit America in August 2005. The Hurricane caused over 1800 deaths and $125 billion in damage, most of which was in New Orleans, Louisianan. People were left without power, food, or water, but had plenty of panic. Why did so many suffer? They had KNOWLEDGE that the Hurricane was coming, and fleets of school buses at hand that could have been used to evacuate the city. Yet though the city was told the Hurricane was coming, and mandatory evacuation notices were issued, the citizens and it’s leadership failed to act. KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT WISDOM IS OFTEN USELESS.

Yet less than a month later Hurricane Rita struck Texas and Louisianan. Though Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico, and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, damage only reached about 18.5$ billion. Why was this equally disastrous phenomena not equally as destructive as Katrina? Because the people heeded the warnings, and put the knowledge they had into action by evacuating. This is KNOWLEDGE coupled with WISDOM.

God often uses trials to bring us to the realization of this great truth:

Wisdom Is Found In God

Job 28:23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.

God knows the way of wisdom. God knows the place of wisdom. You cannot find wisdom in a secular college. You cannot find wisdom on Google or on You Tube. The Source of Wisdom is God. The Holy Bible is the written Word of God. Sadly, few Christians turn to their Bibles today.

Every day I read my news from sources on the Internet. So often I read of influential and well known pastors and authors in the Christian community who are going through divorce, despair, and even premature death because of suicide. Why are they going through these things? Because too often they have KNOWLEDGE of what God’s Word says, and yet out of ignorance, or even outright disobedience, refuse to DO what God’s Word says. They HEAR but do not DO. The Bible is God’s Word to us. The Psalmist told our Lord:

Psalm 119:89 Thou {O Lord} through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

To HEAR and DO what God says is wisdom. He said:

Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Those who do what God says – DO IT – are wise. The Apostle told his convert Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:15-17 … from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 that the man of God may be {mature}, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Those who are saved by faith in Christ are those who not only hear, but DO what God has said. Too often I read of popular, influential Christian “progressive” leaders who have abandoned the teaching of scripture for the ways and means of the world. I read of one mother who ceased believing scripture because of her daughter’s sexual lifestyle. It wasn’t long before this same woman was plunged into a messy, horrific divorce. The Bible gives clear guidelines for what is and is not marriage, and yet many who profess Christ refuse to obey what the Scripture says. Knowledge without wisdom will destroy a life. Sexual sin is most destructive. The Bible says:

Proverbs 6:27-29 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 29 So he that goeth in to his neighbor’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

God has established standards of behavior that He expects His Children to obey. Jesus said:

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Obedience to God’s Word is wisdom. So many KNOW what the Scripture says, KNOW what God has said, and yet DO NOT DO what God has said. Knowledge without wisdom is useless. God knows best. Let me say that again:

God knows best.
God knows best.
God knows best!

Job 28:24-27 For {God} looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; 25 to make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. 26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: 27 then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.

God knows the end from the beginning, and decrees what will be done from eternity past (Isaiah 46:10). God has said:

My counsel shall stand; and I will do what I desire!

When I was growing up, there was a show on television called “Father Knows Best”. Beloved, Father does know best. Our God knows what is best, regardless as to what “progressive” Christians believe. The Bible says:

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

It is time for God’s Church to cease compromising with the world. We need to do as God says if we expect to be blessed. This leads us to our final point:

When We Do What God Says, We Are Indeed Wise

Proverbs 28:28 And unto man {God} said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

In our day people FEAR peer pressure, but do not FEAR God. God is, after all, that Jolly Old Man that lives up yonder. Yet this is not the God of the Scripture. The God of the Scripture is our Maker, Eternal and forever Perfect. He is the One Who sent His Beloved Son to this earth to show us the Way of the Kingdom of God. We are called, as Christians, to imitate God, not man. The Bible says:

Romans 12:1-2 … present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We need to FEAR GOD, which means to have our greatest respect for Him and what He has said in His Word, the Holy Bible. We as Christians need to get back to the Bible. We need to not just READ it, but HEED it. We are to DO what God tells us to DO in His Word. We are to be followers of God, as dear children (Ephesians 5:1). A child does not lead the parent, and we do not define God. God defines God. God defines good, and God defines evil.

The fear of the Lord, THAT is WISDOM.

May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit this very day. Amen and Amen!