In our study of God’s Word we would be remiss if we didn’t focus on the Bible books classified as wisdom literature (Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes). Every other book in the Bible also contains the wisdom of God, but only as a corollary to the main theme of that particular book. Wisdom is secondary to the story and to the point God is making. But in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes God’s primary purpose for those books is to share his wisdom with man. We get only the concentrated wisdom of God in Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. Can you name any instance in the Bible where God’s wisdom turned out to be bad advice? I know I can’t. God has perfect knowledge of every circumstance that will ever occur and therefore God is never surprised. God is never wrong.
Psalm 119:97-99 – Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Jeremiah 17:7 – Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.
Hebrews 10:36 – For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
Think of those three books as containing the essence of God’s wisdom; wisdom on steroids. Most of the books of the Bible I can read through fairly quickly without a hitch but not so with Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. When I hit these three books my progress slows dramatically. It’s like running into a brick wall. It’s as though I’m suddenly walking in quicksand. God’s concentrated wisdom is so overwhelming to my mind I have to go slowly in order to grasp it; to meditate on it. I have to crawl through Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes to get the most from them. The wisdom of God is a joy!
PROVERBS
What is a proverb? A proverb is a general truth derived from astute observations about how our life usually works. Proverbs are typically pithy, that is, it is brief and rich in meaning. A proverb is practical; it gives advice that is useful in the real world. For example: “no pain, no gain” or “a fool and his money are soon parted.” It’s no accident that the writer of Proverbs is none other than King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. We know every book of the Bible incorporates the character of the writer while at the same time dispensing the revelation of God; the truth of God. Therefore, the proverbs in the book of Proverbs are divinely inspired. Since they come from God, we know they are true and we can be certain they are beneficial. Biblical proverbs not only offer practical advice for this life but also guides the reader to eternal life, which is our ultimate goal.
Proverbs 16:20 – He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.
Proverbs 15:24 – The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below.
Proverbs 4:4 – He also taught me, and said to me: Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands and live.
James 1:5 – If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Bible proverbs do not just entertain; they exhort, they encourage and they offer hope. Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs to lay out the basic principles of the wisdom of God. We know that God wrote the Bible to reveal himself to man and to lay out God’s intended salvation plan for mankind. God wrote the Bible to give us his commandments. The Bible is God’s instruction manual on how we are to live our lives in obedience to his will. God wrote Proverbs primarily as a guide for the young man on the brink of making decisions in life so that his life would be successful and fulfilling.
Deuteronomy 6:5 – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 8:3 – Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
1 Chronicles 22:19 – Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.
James 4:2 – Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
God wanted to share the unchanging principles for living a wholesome and honorable life. There is a close connection between God and wisdom. Ultimately, biblical wisdom is informed by and founded on faith in God. If you don’t have God you don’t have wisdom. If you don’t “know” God through Bible reading and prayer it’s impossible to have true wisdom. You might be smart and highly educated but that’s not the same thing. True wisdom presupposes the “fear” of God because God is the source of this inspired Godly advice we call wisdom. Only God himself guarantees the blessings that wisdom promises. The benefits of wisdom and the benefits of God are the same. What wisdom promises is what God grants. Throw away all the self-help books in all the bookshelves of the world because they aren’t needed. Look to Proverbs instead and you’ll find all you need to be who God intended you to be.
Proverbs 4:5-6 – Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her and she will keep you.
Proverbs 4:7-8 – Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all you getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
Isaiah 41:13 – For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, I will help you.
JOB
The Old Testament describes God’s relationship with the Israelites, his chosen people. The history of the Jewish people starts in the latter part of Genesis with the patriarch Abraham around 2100 BC and concludes during the Persian period around 400 BC. A good rule of thumb for dividing up human history is it was roughly 2000 years from creation to Abraham (born about 2166 BC). From Abraham to the birth of Jesus it was another 2000 years. And finally, it has been about 2000 years from the time of Christ to where we are today. God intended the Bible to be a history of his relationship with Israel and God presents it in pretty much chronological order. God is logical, methodical, and never does anything without a good reason.
Job 1:21 – Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Psalm 46:1-2 – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Out of the blue God throws into the Bible the book of Job which isn’t a part of the Jewish historical narrative. Job is a one-off, an anomaly, an outlier. Why on earth has God given us the book of Job? We know there has to be a reason because God doesn’t do random. God doesn’t waste our time. I posit God gave us Job because God wanted to tell us something; to give us important information we need to know in order to understand him better. In most books of the Old Testament we know who wrote them and the general timeframe.
Psalm 50:15 – Call on Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.
Joshua 1:9 – Have I nor commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do nor be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Ephesians 6:10 – Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Not so with Job; Job is a mystery. We have no idea who wrote Job. Job was set during the time of the patriarchs, making Job a contemporary of Abraham. That’s why some Bible scholars think Job could have been written as early as 2100 BC, making it 700 years older than Genesis. However, most Bible scholars are of the opinion Job was written between 1400 BC and 400 BC, with the consensus being around 950 BC during the reign of King Solomon.
Job 14:1 – Anyone born of woman is short of days and full of trouble.
Psalm 9:9 – The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
Ephesians 5:15-16 – See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
The hardest thing for Christians to understand is why does God allow suffering in the world and why does God allow evil to exist? From a merely human point of view, the answer is that there is no answer given to the problem of evil. God doesn’t tell us explicitly. God doesn’t owe us an explanation. From the divine perspective outlined in the Bible, the answer is that God’s glory is served even when evil and suffering is permitted in the world. Christ’s suffering and death at the hands of evil men is the prime example of this. God put us on this earth to go through hardship, suffering and tribulation. Otherwise what is the point of our lives? Why did Moses have to wander forty days in the wilderness? Why did Jesus have to suffer tribulation for forty days in the desert? Iron sharpens iron. If we lived an uneventful life we would gain nothing. Our life of suffering is the holy furnace that God uses to purify our souls.
Psalm 18:30 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
Isaiah 46:22 – Look to Me, and be saved all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
2 Corinthians 4:17 – For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
The book of Job teaches us that suffering comes to everyone. Instead of asking why and becoming bitter toward God we’re to accept God’s will. We’re in no position to challenge God and his wisdom. The message of Job is that we’re to continue to trust the Lord in every circumstance knowing we’re in God’s loving care. We may have to wait until eternity for everything to be made clear. Satan wants us to fall into the trap of cursing God for our troubles so don’t fall for it. Do just the opposite. Praise and worship God all the more when tribulation strikes because you’re glorifying God when you do. Life is hard and it’ll take every ounce of our strength and perseverance to get through it safely. We’ll make it if we hold onto God’s hand tightly.
Job 5:7 – Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
Romans 12:12 – Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 – We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.
The ultimate in worship is when we honor God as our Sovereign and affirm his freedom to act in our lives. The Bible confirms that personal growth comes through suffering. God gets no pleasure from our suffering; quite the opposite. Our suffering is not for God’s benefit, but ours. What we know is small compared to what is unknown to us. Never under any circumstances let what you fail to understand of God’s purposes shake your faith in God’s constant love. Suffering drives many of us to first question God but later to trust and know him better. Don’t feel guilty; we all go through it. God knows us and he is great enough to survive our questions and doubts. We just need to push on through to a level of greater faith in God. We must respect and trust God. In the end, Job’s fear of the Lord and trust in the goodness of God is what ultimately saved him. Job is set before us as an example to follow. An example we should not forget as we persevere through our life of hardship.
Job 28:28 – And to man He said, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.
Job 19:25-26 – And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Romans 8:18 – For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed is us.
In our brief lifetime we will receive tribulation by God’s purpose but nothing can overcome us if we fix our hope on eternity. We must keep our eyes on Jesus. That’s the message of Job. It’s like when you’re getting a vaccination; you know the momentary pain is coming because you can see the nurse approaching with a needle out of the corner of your eye. You must look straight ahead or you’ll flinch and the pain will be greater. You look straight ahead and bear it because you know the pain will be brief and you know the shot is in your best interests. Each of us must strive to, “look straight ahead into the face of God”, so that we reach that point in our walk with God where no matter what happens we can honestly say, “I don’t really understand how this can be, but I trust God absolutely.” When you’ve reached that happy place you’ll have found the peace of God that defies understanding.
ECCLESIASTES
We’ve shown that Proverbs is God’s general wisdom by sharing fundamentals to live by for all people, especially young people who need more guidance when starting out in life. Job is for the more mature man of God seeking specific wisdom about evil in the world and the uneven suffering of mankind. Ecclesiastes is also for the more mature Christian because it engages the question of whether death nullifies all purpose and meaning in life. King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes around 935 BC after a long life and reflection on the meaning of life. We’re talking about the wisest man who ever lived; and King Solomon came to the conclusion that when it comes to our life, “everything is futile.” God created us to live a brief time in our physical bodies and then die. We all have an expiration date and there’s nothing we can do about it. We can show ourselves wise in the eyes of God by fearing him and turning from evil.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 – Absolute futility, says the Teacher. Absolute futility. Everything is futile.
Ecclesiastes 12:1 – Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near to when you say, I have no pleasure in them.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 – Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.
Romans 12:12 – Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.
King Solomon had it all: ultimate political power, more gold and jewels than any man who ever lived, 300 wives and 700 concubines, 40,000 horses, etc. In the end King Solomon concluded that the only thing in life that mattered is a right relationship with God, to walk humbly with God in obedience. Ecclesiastes warns us not to waste our lives in pursuit of useless endeavors like intellectual accomplishments, wealth, political power and irrational religious zeal. The Bible answers the question we all want to know the answer to, “What is the meaning of life?” That question is clearly answered in Ecclesiastes. Life’s meaning cannot be discovered on our own; it is only revealed by God through his word. How we live our lives is of eternal significance; so even through we are capable of accomplishing many wonderful things in this life, our primary focus should be on God’s revelation and eternity-for they are what define true meaning and lasting outcome of life.
Isaiah 33:6 – Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation; the fear of the Lord is His treasure.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:12 – I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
2 Timothy 2:21 – Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter (dishonor), he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.