09/27/2024 – Day 096 – Job – Chapters 7 & 8 / “There is a twofold wisdom, one hidden in God, which is secret and belongs not to us, the other made known by him and revealed to man, which belongs to us and to our children.” Matthew Henry commentary – 8: 20 – 28.
As I heard Alistair Begg peach one time: “The best of men are men at best.” I would submit case in point with Job, look at verses 28:2 – 6:
“As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies. I will never admit you are in the right till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.”
Unlike his three friends, the good Lord has full wisdom, a God of justice but also an unfathomable God of love and understanding, so he is not going to strike him down for his comments to his friends in these verses.
Now, I would like to focus on 28: 20 – 28 for possible further fellowship. In today’s reading , I am looking for help from Matthew Henry’s commentary, the concise version:
https://www.christianity.com/bible/commentary/matthew-henry-concise/job/28
Here is a copy and paste of the full text from verses 20 – 28:
“There is a two-fold wisdom; one hid in God, which is secret, and belongs not to us; the other made known by him, and revealed to man. One day’s events, and one man’s affairs, have such reference to, and so hang one upon another, that He only, to whom all is open, and who sees the whole at one view, can rightly judge of every part. But the knowledge of God’s revealed will is within our reach, and will do us good. Let man look upon this as his wisdom, To fear the Lord, and to depart from evil. Let him learn that, and he is learned enough. Where is this wisdom to be found? The treasures of it are hid in Christ, revealed by the word, received by faith, through the Holy Ghost. It will not feed pride or vanity, or amuse our vain curiosity. It teaches and encourages sinners to fear the Lord, and to depart from evil, in the exercise of repentance and faith, without desiring to solve all difficulties about the events of this life.”
I think this summary is very helpful for us. So even the wisdom of God within our reach , still “can only be attained by divine revelation through the Holy Spirit.” In his full version, he distinguishes that which we can’t know now from what what will be revealed after the second coming of Jesus Christ: “The line and plummet of human can never fathom the abyss of the divine counsels. Yet there is a world on the other side death and the grave, and there we shall see clearly what we are now in the dark about. When the mystery of God shall be finished it will be laid open and we shall know as we are known; when the veil of flesh is rent, and the interposing clouds are scattered, we know what God does, though we know not now. John xiii.7.”
I submit that even with this revealing , we still will not be able to fully understand God, “that there will still be that remaining : “twofold wisdom, one hidden in God, which is secret and belongs not to us,…” As I have noted in an earlier reading, it is a good thing I have all of eternity to know and understand God, because that is how long it will take me! Thoughts? / Reflections?
Questions for fellowship generation, the lifelong sanctification process:
- What does the text reveal about God’s character?
- How has this reading generated prayer for you and/or us?
- What themes stand out to you in this bible study?
- How does our reading fit into the bigger picture (creation, the fall, restoration, etc.)?
- What verse(s) jumped out at you like never before? Is it explainable at this point?
- Do you have any questions you would like to put before the group as to how to interpret any particular verse(s) in our reading. Let scripture testify to scripture: Share with us where you sense contradiction between passages elsewhere and outside of our fellowship group.
- Share with the group how our study is calling or confirming to you a new mission to glorify God in our times.
Soli Deo Gloria!