Job 28:28 – THAT IS WISDOM
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Have you ever asked the Lord for wisdom? Most likely you had an important decision to make and you did not know how to handle the situation. Maybe it was a question as to whether you should move and you cried out to God for wisdom. Maybe it was a question about how to handle a difficult decision regarding one of your children and you cried out to God for wisdom. Maybe it was a question as to whether you should marry someone and you cried out to God for wisdom.
In this passage, Job tells us that the fear of the Lord is wisdom. Solomon told us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is a very important principle that we need to understand. If we want wisdom from God, then our lives should first demonstrate that we have the fear of the Lord in our lives.
Look at your life, do you fear the Lord? The fear of the Lord means that you understand that God is looking at your actions, your words, and your thoughts. If you have the fear of the Lord in your life, then you are going to be careful with what you do so that you do not sin against a Holy God. The application of the fear of the Lord in your life is that you chose not to sin, not because of what your mother or father would think but because of what God would think.
As a child, you feared the wrath of your parents if they caught you doing something wrong. Maybe you would receive a spanking or you would be grounded. The fear of your parents may have been one of those things that kept you from doing many things that would have been damaging to your life.
The same fear that affected your behavior as a child should be in your life today. Maybe you do not fear what your parents would think now that you are a grown adult, but you should fear what God is going to do if you sin and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus commanded us that we should not fear man who can only kill the body, instead we should fear God who can kill the body and the soul.
You may not be able to see God with your naked eye, but that does not mean that HE cannot see you. God saw the rebellion of Korah and had the ground open up and swallow them alive. God saw the pride of Nebuchadnezzar and HE had him eat grass as a cow for seven years. God saw the disobedience of the inhabitance of Babel and HE changed their language and dispersed them as HE had commanded. God saw Jonah run in the opposite direction and HE caused a severe storm to overtake the ship and then prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.
We serve a God who sees all and knows all. It is because of who HE is, that we should fear HIM. This does not mean that we act like a coward in a corner afraid of our own shadow. No. The fear of the Lord means that we constantly ask ourselves if what we are doing is pleasing to the Lord. The fear of the Lord means that when someone asks us to do something that is not pleasing to the Lord, that we decline because we are more afraid of what God thinks of us than our friends.
It is not easy living in the fear of the Lord. There will be many people who think that you are crazy for some of your decisions. However, when you are living with the fear of the Lord in your life, you understand that you are not living for the approval of man but the approval of God. By patiently serving God and fearing HIM, HE will direct your paths and give you wisdom.