Day of Praise

Sa, Sep 15 "Day of Praise"

"And [God] said to man, 'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'" - Job 28:28

Throughout Job 28, Job has been repeatedly "asking" where one can find wisdom and understanding.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Job's conclusion is twofold: 1) wisdom and understanding do not belong to humanity and can't even be "found" by humanity and 2) wisdom and understanding belong to God and must be revealed by God to humanity, which is why "The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding." (Job 28:28)

The "fear of the Lord" can be summed as "a recognition that God is God, and we're not." And because God is God, God can do whatever God wants to do, including annihilate us for our sin, if God wanted to.

Such fear of the Lord, such recognition that God can do whatever God wants to do, including annihilate us for our sin, is God's ordained way to open the eyes of our heart then to the magnitude of God's grace.

As the famous song goes, it (grace) is amazing, simply amazing, unfathomable, inspiring beyond compare.

God's grace then compels us to "shun evil" and find that, just as God has ordained the fear of the Lord as wisdom, so too has God ordained that to shun evil is understanding (Job 28:28). It just works because God has ordained it that our brains just work better and see things they wouldn't otherwise see when we pursue God and flee/shun evil. It's amazing, God's saying, how many "Oh, I get it!" moments we have when running to God and running from evil.

After all, God is God, God is the Creator of how things work, and we're not.

"And [God] said to man, 'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'" - Job 28:28

Praaaaaaaaise God!



Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson