What if there is a way that I can guarantee you will either make your life better or worse? …easier or harder? …more pleasant or less pleasant? In addition, what if I am willing to share this information for free? I will just give it to you? What would that be worth? Would it be worth three minutes of your time to consider it?
If there is suffering in your life, you are just normal. Everyone has some measure of suffering. For some, the suffering overwhelms them, zaps their energy, continually weighs heavy on their minds, and crushes their spirit. For others, the suffering robs a fun day, causes frustration, and distracts them from fun activities. In either case, who wants to define life by suffering? Who wants to determine a good day based solely upon how much suffering affected them?
There is a better way.
We receive help from the life of Job.
The Book of Job provides us help. As Job goes through incredible circumstances which produces even more incredible long-term suffering, we get to watch, listen, and engage with him in his suffering. God graciously provides us Job’s story as an example to us. In it we learn about God, our circumstances, God’s grace, and even ourselves.
Remember the Big Picture of the Book
Job undergoes suffering at every level of human existence. He is sinned against by others. He faces incredible natural disasters. He suffers loss. Furthermore, he experiences significant relationship difficulties. He suffers just like you and me, all of us. In the midst of this suffering, he responds in various ways that are both helpful and not helpful. Through this story, God provides us help as we go through our own pressures and suffering (1 Cor 10:1-13).
Job points us to understand wisdom.
In the midst of the book of Job, as Job discusses his plight with his three friends and ultimately God, Job points us toward understanding and benefiting from wisdom (Job 28). Job basically makes the following summary of wisdom for us. He begins by explaining that mankind cannot make sense of his world. In spite of man’s skills, he cannot discover wisdom (Job 28:1-12). In spite of man’s wealth, he cannot purchase wisdom (Job 28:13-22). Only God knows wisdom (Job 28:23-24); in fact, God knows wisdom thoroughly (Job 28:25-27). Thankfully, God tells us what wisdom is (Job 28:28).
Here is what we learn from God to us:
And to man He said,
“Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28)
The fear of the Lord is wisdom.
Job says that “the fear of the Lord is wisdom.” What does that mean? Essentially, wisdom is the skill or ability to apply what we know from or through the Bible to life situations. In this case, what we know is the fear of God, which means we respect and trust God as we observe God’s character and His work. To fear God is to hold Him in ultimate regard as God – respecting Him and trusting Him. God says this is ultimate wisdom. In other words, we have the skill or ability to work through life situations with discernment as we respect and trust God above all else.
To depart from evil is understanding.
“To depart from evil is understanding” makes up the second half of Job’s explanation. Again, what does this functionally mean? He wants you to understand that wisdom applied to life results in skilled living or understanding. Thus, the wise person grows in the practice of discernment as he or she makes daily decisions based upon wisdom. Here, the wise person makes daily choices based upon respecting and trusting God (His character and work), which is fearing God.
When this takes place, the person’s daily decisions reflect his or her fear of God. This impacts what one says or does. For this reason Job says that true understanding (the skill of living wisely in light of the fear of God) is departing from evil. To depart from evil is the negative sense. You could also say it this way, “Understanding is doing what honors God and not doing what dishonors God as you make daily decisions.” In this sense you demonstrate understanding in the midst of life’s pressures, including all levels of suffering.
How then does this make my life either better or worse?
I started with the following questions: “What if there is a way that I can guarantee you will either make your life better or worse? …easier or harder? …more pleasant or less pleasant?” And the answer is, based upon the truth of this passage of Scripture, I can guarantee it. Your life will either be better or worse, easier or harder, or more pleasant or less pleasant based upon what you do with this truth from Job.
This truth is part of what Job was learning as he was in the midst of his own suffering. He initially misunderstood God’s work in the world – and in his life specifically. He thought that God only brought suffering in someone’s life when they deserved it. He figured that if he were to legalistically follow all the rules then God would spare him all suffering.
However, as he goes through this incredible suffering, he learned that truly we live or respond with understanding in the midst of our circumstances (suffering) as we respond based upon our trust and respect in God – His character and His works.
Consider This Illustration
If we were to use a simple illustration of the sun, a fruit tree, and its roots, you can see how all this works out to make your life either better or worse.
The heat of the sun represents the pressures in your life, which includes your suffering. As you go through suffering, it brings heat to the roots of your tree. These roots are represented by your heart. As the heat engages the roots, this combination produces fruit, which here represents your behavior.
In the midst of the heat of life (suffering), this verse teaches us to fear the Lord which is wisdom. In other words, we trust and respect God while in the midst of our pressures in life.
When one’s heart fears the Lord, it produces a life of understanding as fruit. Understanding has a particular fruit – a lifestyle that shuns evil, according to this verse. It could also be described as a lifestyle of words and actions that honors God instead of dishonors God.
As one lives this kind of life, the result is either more or less pressure in life. If you choose to honor God (live with understanding), your life is less complicated by the depth, guilt, and confusion of sinful responses. If you choose to dishonor God in your suffering, your life will reflect all the complications that come with sin.
How is life better or worse then?
Life is better when you fear God in the midst of suffering. As you respect and trust God, it gives you the ability to live with understanding, which means that you will choose to respond in the midst of your suffering in ways that honor God instead of dishonor God. As you do, whether or not the circumstances actually change, the pressure will be less. As the pressure is less, your life is better, easier, and more pleasant because you keep from complicating your circumstance with the result of your own sinful choices. You live with peace, confidence, and courage as you go through suffering rather than guilt, confusion, and all manner of evil (cf., James 3:13-18).
Bottom line: today what rules your heart directly impacts your day. If you fear God (wisdom) and honor God in your responses to your pressure (understanding), then you will enjoy more joy, peace, contentment, and blessings. Your life will be better, easier, and more pleasant.
KevinCarson.com | Walking together through life as friends in Christ sharing wisdom along the journey
