(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better — today’s a good example of that — and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
Where does Job say wisdom is found?
Intro:
If I were to ask you where wisdom is found, or more specifically to today’s focus question, “Where does Job say wisdom is found?”, I know you know the answer.
But do you KNOW the answer?
There’s an old saying sales and marketing — “Anyone can share your facts, but no one can share your stories.” In our bottom line segment I hope to share with you one simple connection between knowing and stories. I hope you’ll hang with me after today’s reading.
NEW TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
In our NT segment today we knock down Luke 5. Jesus has begun his earthly ministry, and we see Luke introducing him via stories that demonstrate not only His supreme authority, but His supreme concern for all which, like much of the Bible, particularly focuses on those the world doesn’t focus on.
Passage: Luke 5
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 39
Words: ~834
ORIGINAL TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
In our journey through Job, the three rounds of banter, or discourse, are done, and now we begin into an extended bit of hearing from Job about the power of God, the place of wisdom, and the path of integrity. We won’t make it all the way through this section today, but we
Passage: Job 26-28
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 65
Words: ~1069
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Do you believe God speaks? ‘Round these parts we do, of course — in both the book of nature and the book of Scripture. And the crazy thing about Scripture is that we have stories and poems and songs and letters and legal documents and historical recitation and on and on which, as a whole, tell a story. And in a very real way, it tells the most important story — who God is and who I am —- in a way that shows me myself, that I’m loved but fall short, that I need a rescuer, and that it’s God, not me, who does the rescuing.
Some people think Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Whether it is or isn’t, it does represent a story that reflects the culture then that believed if you’re good, good things happen, and if you’re bad, bad things happen. Oh, you’re the emperor? You must be close to a god yourself.
And here comes this story, the story of Job, that challenges all that. Sometimes the wicked prosper, and sometimes bad things happen to good people, so what do we do with that?
Well, as our passage today concludes, the fear of God — which is appropriate respect and honor and recognition of who He is vs who I am — is wisdom, and then Job says, “and to turn from evil is understanding.”
In other words, if you reeeeally knew what reality is, it’d be reflected in how you respond. If you reeeally believed that thing you do is slowly killing you, you’d stop. If you reeeeally knew what being loving is, you’d do that.
And yet we regularly show that, apparently, we don’t reeeeally know jack crap. And given God’s kinda hard to wrap our head around sometimes, here He comes and what’s He say? He doesn’t give us a technical instruction manual. He tells us stories.
Anybody can share your fact, but nobody can tell your story. Whatever you’re an expert in, someone else can learn those things, and sooner or later someone will do it better, faster, cheaper.
But nobody can tell your stories.
And ironically, your story is an image of a God who chose to tell you His story. Learn that one, and understanding follows.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
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