Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

It’s a good question. Where can I find wisdom? Where can I find out what I need to know? Do I trust the research I can do on the Internet? Do I read a book by an expert? Do I listen to the radio? Do I watch the television?

It seems that human beings have always been clever, resourceful, and good at discovering things, even in the time when the Book of Job was written. They were finding gold, silver, and precious jewels and using great skill to bring up these precious, valuable things. They were uncovering what was hidden below the surface of the earth.

Yet, the writer says, in beautiful poetic language, that people are not able to find the most important thing of all - wisdom.

We can be highly intelligent and know a tremendous amount of information, but still mess up our life, or the lives of others. Some seem to think they can teach everybody else what they should do. But they can be completely misguided.

`God alone knows the way, Knows the place where wisdom is found`

(Job 28:23).

If we would listen, God has answers for us which are the best ones. Long before our Lord Jesus came to earth, the writer of Job tells us that we all need relationship with God.

I have recently brought out a collection of Bibles from storage and placed them on a shelf in the dining room, where I can use them instead of always looking at the Bible online. One of them was printed in 1977, the year I became a Christian, and it is the first South African edition of the Good News Bible. Here is what it says in Job 28:28:

‘God said to human beings, “To be wise, you must worship the Lord. To understand, you must turn from evil.””

Another version of the Bible translates this verse to say, “And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding’” (Job 28:28, ESV).

But I find the words ‘You must worship’ give me more encouragement to be active and take positive steps rather than ‘the fear of the Lord’ which is not so much something I am to do. Whatever version of the Bible I read, the message is crystal clear. I must choose to turn away from evil.