Flight Paths

Many years ago a young doctor decided to try contact lenses on my nanophthalmic, hyperopic/aphakic, corrugated, football-shaped eyeballs.  Everyone told him he was crazy, that it was impossible.  Somehow, amid all the discouraging words, he managed to make it work.  For the first time in my life I could see more than the fish-eyed tunnel in front of me. 

            These were the original hard contact lenses.  He had sat me down and told me that the only way I could possibly wear them in my “special” eyes was to want to wear them.  I did not realize till much later how wise he had been.  They were incredibly uncomfortable, especially on my deformed eyeballs, but I saw so much more that I knew I would never give them up regardless the pain.

            Seven years later rigid gas-permeable lenses became available through overseas channels.  They were a tiny bit more comfortable, but more important, they kept my eyes healthier.  I wore those for thirty-five years.  Finally a type of soft lens has been developed that I can actually wear with no ill-effects.  Not only that, but they cause no strange visual effects either—no starbursts, no fish-eyes, no distortions at all.  It seems ironic that they have come now when my vision is failing and when only one eye can tolerate wearing one, but I am not complaining.

            I have had to learn different methods of insertion, removal, and overnight care.  This thing is so much more comfortable that sometimes I am not certain it is in.  The many surgeries I have had have changed me from hyperopic to myopic, and my vision, even with the lens, is not perfect.  That is why I did not realize for about an hour that I did not have the lens in my eye the other morning. 

            At first, when the usual blur did not clear up right away, I thought it was just one of those days when I was not going to see well.  They happen often enough.  Finally I put my finger to my eyeball and touched only eyeball—I knew the lens had not made it into my eye.  So where was it?

            I ran back to the bathroom, got on my hands and knees and felt across the floor from the door to the vanity cabinet, the only way I could possibly find it down there.  No lens.  At least I knew I wasn’t going to step on it.  So I stood up and I felt across the entire vanity countertop.  No lens. 

            Finally I took the hand towel off the rack.  I always open the lens case over a towel because of the fluid in it.  I felt one side of the towel and then turned it over.  Still no lens, but when I picked up the towel again, there was the lens under it, finally having fallen off the towel with a tiny little “clink.” It was as solid as one of my old hard lenses.  That nice soft lens material had dried up even in the humid bathroom air.

            I soaked it in saline a couple of hours and it came back to life.  Finally I could see again, at least as well as I ever do these days.

            I came across a passage the other day. The light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. His strength shall be hunger-bitten, and calamity shall be ready at his side. His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street, Job 18:5, 12, 18, and 19.

            Trying to live your life without Christ will dry you up.  I do not understand how people who do not have the hope He offers can handle life’s problems, and especially how they can handle dying.  They have nothing to live for, and certainly nothing to die for.

            We have said it over and over.  The grace of God not only gives you salvation, it helps you overcome temptation, bear tragedies, and face death.  If I turn into a dried up, bitter old woman, it is because somewhere along the line I refused to make use of that grace. 

            I wince, thinking about the pain I would have felt if I had tried to put that desiccated contact lens into my eye.  We sometimes go about with pain that we needn’t bear.  A good long soak in the grace and goodness of God makes it possible to live this life to the fullest and look forward to the one to come.
 
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water, John 7:37,38.
 
Dene Ward
 

If you have been with me awhile, you know I have been teaching a Psalms class with lessons I compiled after a long, hard summer of study.  {You can read snippets from those lessons in the category “Psalms” on the right sidebar.}  I am still reading books about the Psalms and the last couple have brought a new idea my way that I would like to share.
 
           Of course, the early church, the apostolic church, as scholars often call the first century Christians, sang the Psalms.  The practice came from the Jewish heritage of the first congregations of Christians in Judea.  In fact, one of the books I read said this:  “…in the English-speaking world use of the psalms has often languished as hymns and worship songs with catchy tunes have tended to displace the psalms…This trend would have appalled the apostolic church…one may hope this modern failure to appreciate the psalms…to be a blip,” Gordon J. Wenham, The Psalms as Torah.  I find myself agreeing with Mr. Wenham.

 But here is something I had not realized:  The Psalms were often prayed by the early church and that practice lasted for centuries.  Mr. Wenham devotes a whole chapter to the affect that praying the Psalms would have on us if we did it.  Try this today.  Read the following verses from various psalms out loud.  All right, wait until you are alone if you want to, but don’t forget to do it.

I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence,”  Ps 39:1
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High, Ps 9:1-2.

I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD! Ps 116:18-19.

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. — Selah.  Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. — Selah Ps 32:5-7.

  I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. ​A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil. Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes, Ps 101:2-7.

That should be enough for you to get the point.  Many of the psalms are written in first person.  When you pray it, you are praying for the same things the psalmist prayed for, and allowing the psalmist’s attitude to become your own.  You cannot pray these things without it affecting how you live—unless you are a hypocrite. 

But shouldn’t we read all scripture that way?  Shouldn’t we read the epistles in such a way that we are praying to be what we are told to be, to speak as we are told to speak, to live as we are told to live?  Shouldn’t every recitation of a memory verse be a phrase we are willing to live by?  Yet how often do we quote what we have learned by rote and then continue to live as we always have, never taking to heart the words that have just left our lips?

Maybe if you start with these few verses from the Psalms today you can train yourself to pray the prayers of the saints gone by instead of the selfish carnal prayers we usually pray—for physical blessings and physical convenience and physical health--and maybe, just maybe, we can start to be the people we talk about being every time we read our Bibles.
 
Dene Ward

Has life left you a few mementos?  For me it’s silicone lenses, a capsular tension ring, a fifty micron ophthalmic shunt, a metal anchor in each heel, plus the usual stretch marks, wrinkles, gray hairs, numerous surgical scars, and quite a few missing parts.  For Keith it’s a plastic eye socket, five bullet wound scars, a few wrinkles (very few, dear), and a loss of hair.  Our battle scars make our lives sound far more interesting than they actually are.
 
           We live in a culture that wants to erase those marks of life at any cost.  I still don’t understand why anyone would want to get rid of laugh lines.  Does she want people to think she has lived a miserable life?  I remember a couple of little boys who were thrilled to death whenever they had a “booboo” to display.  I suppose it all depends on how we got those “booboos.”  I am never quick to show off a bruise I got for being downright stupid.

            Paul was proud to mention the scars he earned for the Lord, Henceforth, let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus, Gal 6:17.

            What about spiritual battle scars?  If we are fighting “the good fight,” we ought to have quite a few.  I wonder, though, if we have fallen into the trap of our culture.  No scar is a good one because no fight is a good fight.  Love everyone and accept everything they do.  We might as well take the scissors to our Bibles.

            If I don’t have any spiritual scars, why not?  Is it because I run from the fight, too ignorant of the Sword to do battle? Am I too concerned with the opinion of my neighbors to stand up for something unpopular?  Is it because I give into temptation too easily?  Satan only tempts those he has not caught.  Maybe I am just a POW too cowardly to try to escape.

            On the last day, we had better have a few battle scars to show the Lord.  We enlisted in an army that fights all day every day.  Deserters will not receive the reward.
 
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way,  but not crushed;  perplexed,  but not driven to despair; persecuted,  but not forsaken;  struck down,  but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,  so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh, 2 Cor 4:7-11.
 
Dene Ward

I have to admit it—I seldom look at Bible dictionaries.  They scare me a little.  I cannot read a word of Hebrew or Greek so how can I check out what these guys are saying?  At some point I just have to trust them.  That’s why I love it when the Bible itself tells us what a word means.  Sometimes you have to read carefully or you will miss it, usually because you read past it all your life and can’t seem to stop that bad habit.  At least that’s my problem.  You have to pay attention when you read God’s Word, like every time you read it is the first time.
 
           And by doing just that I found a new, obvious definition.  Read Ezekiel with me.

            If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul, Ezek 3:18-21.

            Did you catch it?  God tells Ezekiel exactly what a righteous man is—someone who warns (and delivers his soul) or someone who listens to the warning and repents.  But what about the “righteous man” who commits injustice, you ask?  He has “turned from his righteousness” and “none of his righteous deeds are remembered,” which means he is no longer righteous.  The only two righteous people in that whole paragraph are the one who warns and the one who repents.

            Notice, God says nothing about the way he is warned.  If you have not read the book of Ezekiel you need to.  Ezekiel preached hard sermons.  He preached plain sermons.  Yet God still demanded that those people repent.  Getting their feelings hurt did not make them “righteous.”  Getting angry about the way they were spoken to did not make them “righteous.”  The only thing
that made them “righteous” was heeding the warning and repenting. 

            Think about that Syrophenician mother who came asking Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter.  At first Jesus ignored her.   Then he insulted her.  If she had left with her feelings hurt, her daughter would never have been healed.  She understood that something was more important than her feelings.  And Jesus called that attitude “faith.”  Ah!  Another Bible definition.

            When I hear the warning, if I want to be counted righteous, I must stop blaming others and recognize my responsibility to listen and act.  The failures of others will not save me.
 
Take heed how you hear…Luke 18:8.
 
Dene Ward

“It’s just for fun,” I keep hearing.  “I know it doesn’t mean anything.” 

            If it doesn’t mean anything, why am I wasting my time on it?  And since when does God ever countenance sin “just for fun?”

            Astrology, palm reading, psychics, mediums, “ghost whisperers”—God condemns every one of these things and all their cousins in His word.

            There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this, Deut 18:10-14.  “God has not allowed you to do this.”  Isn’t that plain enough?  And if it isn’t, do you really want to be lumped in with people who sacrifice their children?

            “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers (people who claim to consult the dead}; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God, Lev 19:31.  It makes you unclean, unfit to serve God.

            And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? Isa 8:19.  It doesn’t even make sense, God tells us. 

            But it does make sense to Satan.  If he can get you to listen to anyone besides God, he has made his first inroad into your heart.  And lest anyone say, “These are all Old Testament passages,” let’s remind him of Gal 5:20 where these things are lumped under the heading of sorcery and labelled “a work of the flesh.”

            And no, these condemnations are not only to those who actually practice these things as Ezekiel makes crystal clear:  And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the [false] prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike--Ezek 14:10.  You can’t play around with this stuff and not be considered guilty, even if all you do is ask them a question.  Even brand new Christians understood that in Acts 19:18-20, and at great financial loss burned their books of divination.  It was obvious to them, babes that they were, that these things were an abomination to God.

            So please, stop playing with fire.  Stop making excuses.  Don’t let yourself be so fascinated that you lose all sense of right and wrong.  God will not tolerate a little playing around.  To Him it is sin, plain and simple.
 
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death, Rev 21:8.
 
Dene Ward

I came across an interesting proverb the other day:  As a madman who casts firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not in sport?” Proverbs 26:18, 19.
 
           My understanding of that proverb is that a man who vents his malice toward his neighbor with all sorts of slanderous accusations is like a man who is so enraged he just shoots at everything, and then claims he was only joking and didn’t mean to hurt anyone.

            I know you’ve seen it happen--someone makes a snide comment, then when it becomes obvious that his words will get him into trouble, he smiles and says, “I was only teasing.”  But anyone close to the situation, who knows it well, knows that it was anything but teasing.  We women have a special word for remarks like that:  “catty.”  They are instantly recognizable and, in our embarrassed silence, those of us within earshot become complicit because no one wants to make a scene.  It would just embarrass the victim further, we rationalize.  But doesn’t that just reward the miscreant so that he continues on to hurt others?  I wonder sometimes if a woman shouldn’t say to the smug little tabby cat, “That was an ugly thing to say;” if an honorable man shouldn’t stand up to the smirking tom in question and say, “That isn’t funny—you have crossed a line.” Would it really cause more embarrassment than has been forced on everyone already?

            God wants a joyful people.  He wants people who enjoy their lives here as much as possible, and who enjoy each other as well, even joking and teasing one another.  Jesus, with his hilarious metaphors—running around with a log sticking out of your eye, or straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel--showed us that a sense of humor is not sinful, that we do not have to live with a sober, serious look on our faces all the time.  Sometimes a sense of humor is the only thing that gets us through a difficult situation—perhaps that is one reason God gave us one, as a defense against Satan and the trials of life.  To use it maliciously seems, well, irreverent somehow. 

            Today I will be especially careful to watch my tongue and how I use that wonderful sense God gave me.  All you have to do is look at a hippopotamus to know that He has it too.
 
Behold this is the joy of his way; and out of the earth shall others spring.  He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouting.  They that hate you shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.  Job 8:19,21,22
 
Dene Ward

            I just made a chocolate mousse cake.  This is one of THOSE recipes—you know, one of those trendy kinds you find in upscale restaurants, the kind that come with a chocolate or raspberry swirl on the white china plate, a piped dollop of whipped cream on the side and maybe even a shard of caramel “glass” sticking up out of it.  This recipe is bound to get me oohs and aahs at the table from excited guests who suddenly think I must be a gourmet cook.  And that’s when I start feeling guilty.  Why?  Because this conglomeration of bittersweet chocolate, butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla took me exactly 15 minutes to put together and throw in the oven.  The only thing hard about it is waiting 8 hours for it to chill so it won’t fall completely apart when you try to cut it.

            I don’t deserve any oohs and aahs and it certainly wasn’t hard to do.  I will grant you that it tastes amazing—but look at that ingredient list above and tell me how it could not.  I have absolutely nothing to do with how it tastes unless I buy cheap ingredients—like Hershey bars and margarine.  Taking a bow for producing this cake is like claiming a cordon bleu culinary education when all you’ve had is watching your mother and grandmother and reading a few cookbooks.

            Have you ever had a friend ask you how you do it?  How you go through some of the trials you have been through, yet live a happy and contented life, in fact, a life of joy and faith?    What do you instantly say?  Do you claim huge inner strength and unimpeachable character?  Do you talk about your spiritual integrity?  Of course not.  You tell them that you had nothing to do with it except having the sense, or maybe the desperation, to take your Heavenly Father’s offer and let Him handle things.

            And it was just that simple, wasn’t it?  No, not really.  A lot of time passed before it really “took,” before you really could face your demons with assurance instead of doubt, before you could race toward that “way of escape” instead of stumbling through it, before you could sit back and let God be in control and accept His will instead of trying to figure things out so you could understand them. 

            It takes a long time to say those words Abraham said on that mountaintop 4000 years ago--God is able; God will provide.  But once you have reached that point, it’s just that simple.  Every time life hands you the inexplicable, you don’t try to understand, you just count on God to handle it.  How can anyone take the credit for that?
 
Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name, 1Chr 29:12-13

Dene Ward

Several years ago I received a pot of rust colored chrysanthemums as a gift.  I enjoyed them for many days before they began to fade.
            “Well that’s that,” I thought as I placed them on the outside workbench so Keith could salvage the dark green plastic pot for other uses.  By the time he got to them, they were brown and withered, as dead looking as any plant I had ever seen.
            Keith cannot stand to throw things away.  “It might come in handy,” he always says as he pulls things out of the trash.  That is why he stuck those dried out flowers in the ground beneath the dining room window.  Yet even he was amazed when a few days later green leaves sprouted on those black stems.  It was fall, a mum’s favorite season, and before long I had twice as many as I had started with.
            Fast forward to Thanksgiving, a year later.  I now had a bed full of rust colored mums about two feet square.  The next year the bed was four feet wide and my amaryllises were swamped.  Keith built a raised bed about eight feet square, half of it for the mums and the rest for a plumbago, a miniature rose, and a blue sage.  That has lasted exactly one year.  The plumbago, rose, and sage have been evicted by the mums and need a new home.
            What started as one six inch pot of mums, withered and brown, has become 64 square feet of blooms so thick they sprawl over the timbers of the raised bed into the field surrounding it.  Whenever I cut an armful for a vase inside, you cannot even tell where I cut them. 
            We often fall prey to the defeatist attitude, “What can one person do?” Much to the delight of our Adversary we sit alone in the nursery pot, wither, and die.  Yet the influence we have as Christians can spread through our families, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, and our communities.  The good deeds we do, the moral character we show, the words we do—and don’t—say make an impression on others.  Those are the seeds we plant, never giving in to the notion that one person cannot accomplish anything.  The attitudes we show when mistreated and the peace with which we face life’s trials will make others ask, “Why?  Can I have this too?  How?”
            Plant a seed every chance you get.  If a six inch pot of dried up mums can spread so quickly, just think what the living Word of God shown through your life can accomplish.
 
And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God?  Or in what parable shall we set it forth?  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth,  yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof, Mark 4:30-32.
 
Dene Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.  It is almost a double post. Plan a lengthy sitting to read it all.

Today I want to look at the concept of wisdom as it is presented in Job. To do that, the first thing we need to inspect is the literary structure of the book.

The book of Job has a very interesting structure in an A B C D E D’ C’ B’ A’ format. To wit:

A. Job is prosperous (1:1-3)
B. Job acts as priest for his children (1:4-6)
C. God speaks twice to Satan (1:7-2:9)
D. Conflict between Job and his Friends (3-27)
E. Ode to Wisdom (28)
D’. Conflict between Job and Elihu (29-37)
C’. God speaks twice to Job (38-42:6)
B’. Job acts as priest for his Friends (42:7-9)
A’. Job is prosperous (42:10-17)

Notice that, in this format, the ode to wisdom in chapter 28 is the center of the book. Everything that happens before chapter 28 has a corresponding event after chapter 28. If we were to graph this on a chart, it would look like a beam of light bouncing at an angle off a mirror, with each event in Job having a mirror image except chapter 28, which would be at the point in which the light hits the mirror. This structure, with the ode to wisdom at the center of the book, strongly suggests that the central theme of Job is wisdom.

“What?” I can hear you yelling, “No it isn’t! Job is about human suffering and why bad things happen to good people, and why we go through trials, and about patience to deal with those trials, and . . .” And I’ll agree that a lot of those things are present in the book, but if the question the book deals with is “why do we suffer?” then why is the answer to Job’s suffering given to us in chapter 1? Job never learns why he had to go through such suffering, but we are told at the very beginning that God was using Job to prove an essential point to Satan—that true servants of God don’t serve Him just for the reward, but because He is worthy of the service. Since we have the answer in chapter 1, what is the point of the rest of the book? Again, based on its central position in the book, it is the ode to wisdom in chapter 28. So let’s inspect it for a moment.

Chapter 28 begins by acknowledging that man can find anything that is valuable. If it is precious minerals like gold, copper & tin (to make bronze), or iron (for steel weapons), man will track it down. Overturning mountains, lighting up caverns, tracking it down in wilderness areas even the wild animals don’t know about, man will find it. But then comes verse 12. In spite of being able to find anything else on or in the Earth, man cannot find wisdom. The poem then turns to the marketplace where anything can be bought and everything has a price. Except wisdom, which can’t be bought no matter how much of what type of precious commodities one has. Finally, in verses 23-28 we see that God, and only God, knows the way to wisdom. He established it and defined it. It is only through Him that man gets any inkling, any speck of wisdom. Wisdom, as God defines it, is to fear Him and turn away from evil.

It is a beautiful poem showing the value of wisdom and God’s preeminence, but, on the surface it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the rest of the book. It almost feels like it should be Proverbs 32, rather than Job 28, but that’s because it is easy to get distracted when reading Job. We get distracted by Job’s pathetic wails of grief and pain and the friends’ seemingly unsympathetic attacks. Elihu’s hubris amazes and God’s appearance awes. One has to read Job with the centrality of chapter 28 in mind to see just how all pervasive the concept of wisdom is to the book.

I went back through Job looking for places where wisdom, teaching, or knowledge was mentioned. I looked for places where the speaker implored the others to listen and he would tell them truth. Mentions of proverbs, explanations and similar phrases were also noted. And from chapter 4 through 36:4 (not counting chapter 28) I found 46 places where the concept of wisdom/teachings was mentioned or discussed. I quit at 36:4 because I ran out of energy; there might be a couple more between there and chapter 38, where God speaks. And, of course, God’s speeches are full of the discussion of wisdom as He demands Job explain the workings of the world to God, if Job is so smart.

Yes, Job and his friends are trying to deal with the problem of human suffering and why God allows the righteous to suffer, but they are using their concepts of wisdom to deal with those problems all the while denying the wisdom of their opponents. This is most clear in the first round of discussion, in which the friends are essentially being good examples of what Paul later commands in Galatians 6:1. They erroneously see Job’s suffering as punishment from God and assume that means that Job has sinned and they each try to convince him to turn back to the Lord. In fact, the only real invitations you see in the Bible are in the book of Job as each friend in the first round of speeches invites Job to return to the Lord. While they are trying to bring back their “erring brother”, as they see it, they each proclaim that what they are telling Job is wisdom.

Eliphaz finishes his speech by saying “Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.” Job 5:27.  He claims to have researched what he is teaching Job and knows it is true. It is wisdom to live by.

Bildad goes further in saying “For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out: (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow); Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, And utter words out of their heart?” 8:8-10. Bildad claims to be giving Job not his own wisdom, but the wisdom of the ancients. When Job still refuses to listen to their “wisdom”

Zophar then nearly claims to be speaking for God: “But oh that God would speak, And open his lips against thee, And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding.” When Zophar continues to speak after this he is at least claiming that his words are backed by what God would say. In all three cases, the friends are trying to teach Job wisdom that they believe will help him in his predicament. Of course, they are wrong, but that is their intention.
J
ob begins to answer in force in chapter 12. In the first three verses he mocks their wisdom, essentially calling it too simplistic for the problems he sees. In 13:1-3 he repeats that idea in a more clear way: “Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.” Job is saying he already knows what the friends are telling him but that isn’t enough. He wants to move forward and speak to God. He wants greater understanding that what they are offering (which he already knows anyway). He then tells his friends they would show their wisdom better if they just shut up.

Throughout the remaining discussions between Job and the friends, the friends keep claiming to have the right wisdom for dealing with these problems, but Job continues to poke holes in their arguments and mock their understanding. In the process, Job builds up concepts of wisdom that are far more profound than the friends’ paltry offerings, and nearly gets to the correct answer (he is oh so close in chapter 23 before he again allows his grief to overwhelm him). What Job does accomplish is a complete dismantlement of all the friends’ arguments. He makes them look like fools and they shut up, bewildered.

Then Elihu enters the fray and it seems that all he talks about is wisdom. All he says in chapter 32 is a defense of his right to speak. He has wisdom too, better than the old men around him, and he will speak it. He then tells Job repeatedly in 33 that he will teach Job (never stated so baldly by the friends), asks the wise men to judge between his words and Job’s in chapter 34, claiming that all the wise will side with him and say that Job has no insight. Then in 36:2-3 he flat-out claims to be speaking for God and in verse 4 says he is “perfect in knowledge”. Despite his hubris, Elihu is often right as he tries to answer the problems brought up by Job. Right, but with a caveat. What he says doesn’t apply to Job’s situation (known to us from chapters 1&2). He is right in the facts (God is great) but wrong in the application (you don’t have the right to ask the question!). So, finally, despite all his claims, Elihu doesn’t get the answers through his wisdom either.

God has to come upon the scene to dispense the proper wisdom for dealing with the problems facing Job. God’s answers basically boil down to “There are things you can’t understand, but I do understand them and I’m in charge watching out for all these things. Trust me.” In a lot of ways, what God says boils down to 28:28. Fear God and turn away from evil. If Job just feared God, let Him handle what Job didn’t understand, and kept himself pure, all would turn out ok. And that’s what eventually happened.

Did you notice how closely this perusal of the theme of wisdom through the book of Job followed the ode to wisdom in chapter 28? All through the discussions Job is searching for the wisdom to deal with his problems and to know the whys. His friends offer their best, but it is fool’s gold. Just like it says in chapter 28, man’s best efforts can’t find true wisdom. Finally, after the best man can do, after a great search for correct wisdom from some very intelligent and wise men turns up nothing, God has to come upon the scene to give out the true wisdom. Just like Chapter 28. The true point of Job seems to be that man’s wisdom will never be able to obtain all the answers. The best that man’s wisdom can do will still leave us short on some of the most important questions. Job is teaching us that to get the answers to those problems we must turn to God for the proper wisdom. And then we learn that God’s answer is “Don’t worry about it, you wouldn’t understand anyway. But I love you and am looking out for you, so just trust me. I got this.”
 
Lucas Ward

God makes it plain in the Old Testament exactly how He feels about human sacrifice, specifically sacrificing one’s children as a part of pagan idol worship.  It is “an abomination;” it “shall not be found among you;” it “defiles you;” it “pollutes the land;” it “did not even enter into [God’s] mind” to command such a thing” (Deut 12:31; 18:10; Ezek 20:31; Psa 106: 37,38; Jer 32:35).
 
           And I suppose most of us think we are past that—we would never participate in something so heinous; we would never be caught up in worshipping an idol to the point that our children no longer mattered to us.  Think again.

            How many people have sacrificed their children to their careers?  And don’t automatically jump to working mothers.  God holds fathers accountable as the spiritual leaders of their families, especially in raising their children (Eph 6:4).  Too many fathers delegate everything to the mother, expecting her to somehow communicate to his children that he loves them, even when he spends practically no time at all with them, when he regularly misses piano recitals, school programs, or ball games; when he has never drunk an imaginary cup of tea at a tea party; when he has never read a bedtime story; when he has never dried a tear or given a hug, changed a diaper or given a bath, helped with a science project or played catch.  Career-minded, status-conscious, money-grubbing parents need to give thought to what they are sacrificing.  When you chose to have children, you chose to sacrifice yourselves, not them.

            And maybe this is the place for the blood being shed in the name of my body, my rights, and my choice.  Abortion is nothing more than human sacrifice so I don’t have to bear the responsibility of my actions.  I, me, and mine are the biggest idols we have today, and precious souls are bearing the brunt of that pagan ritual to the idol of self.

            And we also have those who sacrifice their children on the altar of their own feelings and opinions.  The sermon hurt my feelings, the elders told me I had to change my lifestyle, this brother or that sister came and told me I needed to repent of my sins, so I won’t go back to that church ever again.  And guess what?  Your children miss growing up among godly people, attending Bible classes that would have helped you teach them about God, and at least hearing the gospel every Sunday, whether anything you did at home ever cemented it into their minds or not.  You may not have sacrificed them to Molech, the heathen god most often associated with child sacrifice, but you actually did worse—you sacrificed them to the maker of those “abominations”—Satan Himself.  He is the one who will swoop in and claim those young souls, who have now learned from you that God isn’t all that important after all.

            Child sacrifice is alive and well in the world today, and too many of us are guilty, too.
 
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you, Ezek 20:30-31.
 
Dene Ward