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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.
