If a title had to be given to Job ch.28, then I suppose, THE MINING CHAPTER wouldn’t
be far from the mark. In order to find the gold, the silver, the iron, the copper,
the sapphires and the other sought-after riches of earth, man goes to tremendous
lengths. He opens up a shaft and dangles precariously at the end of a rope (v.4).
He dispels the darkness with his lamp, and seeks in the gloomy depths for his treasure
(v.3). He ‘overturns mountains by the roots’ (v.9) to bring out into daylight what
had been ‘hidden’ (v.11). The question is then asked, “But wisdom, where shall it
be found?” We find the answer in the New Testament! – ‘It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe … WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, unto the Jews
a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But … [to the saved], Christ the
power of God, and THE WISDOM OF GOD’ 1 Cor. 1:21-24.
‘Then said the Pharisees unto Him, “Where is He?” - John 9:12
In the account of the healing of the man born blind and the after events, the verb ‘to know’ (Gk. oida) occurs no less than eleven times! On six of those occasions, it’s in the negative - ‘KNOW NOT’. When asked by the Pharisees, “Where is Jesus”, the healed man replied, “I KNOW NOT.” The blindman’s parents, questioned by the Pharisees, answered, “By what means he now sees we do NOT KNOW, or who opened his eyes we do NOT KNOW.” Later, the healed man said to his interrogators, “Why, this is a marvellous thing, that you do NOT KNOW where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!” That’s an awful a lot of negativity! However, during his second interrogation, when the Pharisees say, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner”, his response rings out with a positive note! “Whether He is a sinner or not I do NOT KNOW. One thing I KNOW: that though I was blind, now I see.”
The answer to the above question, comes in the following verse, v.30 – ‘Those who
linger long at the wine.’ The book of Proverbs presents two sides to wine. Wine can
indicate the Lord’s blessing - 3:9-10 ‘Honour the LORD with thy substance … and thy
presses shall burst out with new wine.’ However, Proverbs also issues two strong
warnings about wine consumption. (1) ‘Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler,
and whoever is led astray by it is not wise’ 20:1. (2) ‘Do not look on the wine when
it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; At the last
it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.’ 23:31-32. Those overcome by the
‘venom’ of wine, lose all inhibitions and self-restraint. With senses numbed to potential
danger, they become so foolhardy they are likened to one who lies down to sleep ‘on
the top of a [ship’s] mast’ v.34. Heed the warnings!
“Who has … redness of eyes?’ - Proverbs 23:29
Paul counted it a great privilege to preach the Gospel, but he was aware that with
this privilege came the onerous responsibility of making it known to all those he
met on his extensive travels. As he journeyed, he viewed the Gospel as giving off
‘an odour of the knowledge of Christ in every place’, and as a well-travelled, itinerant
preacher, Paul knew that not all men view the message positively. Experience told
him that the majority reject it. To those who accept it, the Gospel is a message
that brings the ‘sweet odour’ that speaks of life in Christ. To the rejectors, the
message is objectionable and odious, and gives off only ‘the odour of death unto
death.’ To preach the Gospel was not an easy task. It involved rejection, ridicule,
hardships and tears, and so he asks the question, “Who is sufficient for these things?”
– The answer comes in the next chapter – ‘our sufficiency is from God’.
“And who is sufficient for these things?” - 2 Corinthians 2:16
God is OMNISCIENT. That simply means God knows ALL things. Some have claimed after
reading the Bible verse above, that the God of the Bible can’t be the true God, because
His question to Adam indicates ignorance. This is not so! When the school teacher
asks his young pupil, ‘Smith, what is 8 x 7?’, it isn’t because he, the teacher,
doesn’t know the answer. He asked the question to see if Smith knew the answer! Likewise
with God. He wanted to know if Adam knew where he was. Adam, because of his wilful
sin, was now estranged from God. Adam might have replied, ‘I’m behind this tree’,
but he needed to say, ‘I’m separated from You’.
“Where art thou” – Genesis 3:9
Saul of Tarasus was a young Jew who regarded Jesus of Nazareth as an imposter. Believing
Him to be ‘dead and gone’, Saul, with fervent zeal, set about blotting out every
remnant of His Name. Imagine his immense surprise, while on the road to Damascus
to persecute more Christians, the risen Lord Jesus broke into his life in a dramatic
way by asking, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Saul learnt many things
that day: things that would change the direction of his life dramatically. Foremost,
was the fact that Jesus was ALIVE! Saul would spend the rest of his life declaring,
by the spoken and written word, the glories of the One he once considered a charlatan!
- He wrote ‘the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me’
“And he [Saul] said, Who are You, Lord?” - Acts 9:4
‘But where shall wisdom be found?’ - Job 28:12
