“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?”
– Job 12:12
Hi James and Ellen,
If a kid friend asks you to explain to him or to her your sense of what kind of influence that God has in his or her life, what would you tell your kid friend? Would you tell your kid friend that understanding, wisdom, counsel and power belong to God? Would you tell your kid friend that God is Who will tear down what He preplanned to tear down so that it cannot be rebuilt, that God is Who will see to it that guys are imprisoned to be never released, that God is Who will hold back rain so that there are droughts, that God is Who will release an overabundance of rain so that there are floods, that God is Who will strip away a counselor’s ability to counsel, that God is Who will make fools of judges, that God is Who will entrench leaders to be overthrown, that God is Who will shut up the lips of trusted advisors, that God is Who will take away discernment from elders, that God is Who will pour contempt on nobles, that God is Who will disarm the mighty, that God is Who will destroy the countries that He has made great, that God is Who will disperse nations that He has enlarged, that God is Who will deprive sane reason from leaders, that God is Who will send leaders to a wasteland to have them aimlessly wander, that God is Who will cause leaders to blindly grope for light and that God is Who will make leaders stagger like drunkards. When you think of Who God is, do you always think of God in a positive light – in that He will always dispense love, grace and mercy, or do you always think of God in a negative light – in that He will always use wrath and judgment to control His creation?
If a kid friend asks you who can teach him or her about Who God is, who would you send your kid friend to to learn about Who God is? Would you send your kid friend to animals, birds, fish and/or the earth to teach him or her about God? Can you think of anything that God has not created? Can you think of anything that is not a witness of a Divine Creator? When Job’s so-called, self-appointed friends tried to convince Job that he had to be inferior to them because of what he was going through because per them, Job more than likely had messed up his relationship that he had with God by having sinned, Job went on a sarcastic diatribe against the arrogant dudes. Job 12 begins with Job responding to his wannabe friends by cynically suggesting that they are believing that they are the only ones who have the right to claim wisdom. Job then confronts his self-styled friends by informing them that what they had just harshly accused him of was a commonplace and trivial reality. Job goes on to defend himself by saying that even though he knows that he has become a laughingstock to all his friends, that he knows in his heart that he is righteous and blameless before God. Job then suggests to his purported friends that he knows that they just may be enjoying his dire predicament – that guys who are having an easy life tend to look with contempt on guys who misfortune has found and with derision on guys whose feet have been caught in a fate trap. Job puts a sardonic stamp on his retorts by asking his self-proclaimed friends if they actually do really believe that God – his God, did not know that what has happened and is happening to him was going to happen to him.
If a kid friend asks you if you really know Who God is, what would you tell your kid friend? Benny Na came into your grandpaa’s office yesterday to talk. Benny is one of Adventures in Missions IT guys. Benny went on an Adventures In Missions eleven months/eleven countries World Race. Benny’s ma lives in Toronto. Benny’s dad lives in Hong Kong. Benny’s nationality is Chinese. When your grandpaa is sarcastic, cynical and sardonic with Benny, Benny just laughs and tries to be sarcastic, cynical and sardonic with your grandpaa. Are you sometimes sarcastic, cynical or sardonic with a kid friend? Your grandpaa knows that he is trying to make a provocative point when he is sarcastic, cynical or sardonic with another guy, gal or kid. Your grandpaa at the same time wants to have an open and honest relationship with whoever he is with at any time. Benny and your grandpaa got into a polarizing type of discussion yesterday about the extent of control that God has over the lives of guys, gals and kids who He elected before He created planet Earth. Benny’s understanding of God’s influence in his life is very much like what other guys and gals have who your grandpaa knows. Benny believes – as other guys and gals do, that God does not control every thought, move, act, etc. of his life – that God created him in a way that allows or gives him a free will to make optional choices that helps him to internalize what is good and what is evil. Just as Benny cannot articulate precisely his Scriptural understanding of the extent of God’s influence in his life, your grandpaa cannot get his arms around the extent of how being predestined applies to his life. Verse 12 confirms to your grandpaa as to where he has landed regarding God’s absolute control over his life, “Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” Your grandpaa’s understanding of God – which your grandpaa believes has been underpinned and cemented through years of accumulating wisdom through accumulating knowledge, is that God is Who ‘pulls the strings’ of an indescribable cosmos that He made that embodies exact order. Your grandpaa thinks that there would be chaos if God is creating guys and gals with the freedom to respond to the whims that he or she has to do whatever it is that he or she wants to do. What are your thoughts between being predestined and having free will?
Job 12 (1131)