Bible Reading: Job 28, Jam. 2:15-20.
“And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” – Job 28:28 (KJV)
Proverbs 4:7 (KJV) tells us: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” On 5th December, we defined wisdom as the correct application of knowledge. This is further explained in Job 28:28 as the fear of the Lord. So to get wisdom, all we need to do is fear God. Fearing God entails knowing Him, because you cannot fear someone or something you don’t know.
1 John 4:8 KJV says: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” He loves us so much that he gave his only son Jesus to die for us. He is also the creator of heaven and earth. (Gen 1:1) So everything on earth and in heaven is created by him. All the beautiful things on earth including the mountains, oceans, birds, fishes, animals, human beings were created by God. So our God must be all knowing because you cannot give what you don’t have.
If he knows so much, created so much and loves us so much, why should we fear him? Well we should fear him because he is also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). The same God that made way for the Israelites when the Red Sea was ahead of them preventing them from going to their promised land and the Egyptians were closing on them from behind to take them back to Egypt. While God dried up the Red Sea so that the Israelites could pass through (Exodus 14:21-22), the same God used the same Red Sea to drown all the Egyptians that were chasing the Israelites ( Exodus 14:26-28)! So we need to fear him out of reverence for his mightiness.
If we fear him this way, then we will have understanding. Since we know he can do all things, knows all things, then our option is to depart from things that could bring his wrath i.e. evil things. Hence Job 28:28 (KJV) says: “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”
With these two virtues, wisdom and understanding, we can live holy and thus see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 (KJV): “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
Prayer: Father, give me the grace to fear you and depart from all evils so that I may get wisdom and understanding.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero