05152021 God's Wisdom

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our supremely wise God. God always understands everything perfectly, and He has entire comprehension of that which boggles even the greatest human minds.

Lesson #38. God declares His own wisdom. Job waited a long time to hear directly from God, but when God answered, the answers were incredible. God gives Job four chapters full of answers, and those answers revolve around God Himself. This book enters a marvelous section when “the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said” (38:1). How Job's heart must have rejoiced to hear God's voice. As God spoke, He worked through a series of characteristics about Himself. The first of those was His wisdom.

God introduced the topic of wisdom by contrasting His great wisdom with Job's lack thereof. God confronted Job with his lack of wisdom: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” (38:2). God challenged Job with questions he could not answer: “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me” (38:3). The difference in wisdom between deity and humanity will become quite clear, as Job has no clue about these answers, but God knows them fully.

God asked, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (38:4-7).

In order to show His great wisdom, God focuses on the creation of the world. He does not fully develop this display of His wisdom; rather, He really gives just the most basic foundation. God focuses on the actual moment of the earth’s creation, on the act of creating the globe itself. There are many incredible details in creation upon which we can focus, but none of those details can exist without the initial step of the earth’s formation. In order to start the creative process, God first had to lay the foundation of the earth. He had to determine its size. He had to determine how it would hang in the atmosphere. He had to determine what would hold it up. The rest of creation followed only after these fundamental provisions were made.

These are important questions. God had to wisely and carefully plan the construction of the planet earth. Why did He make earth different from the other planets? Some planets are not even solid, but are made up mostly of gases, but earth has a solid iron core and a firm surface, along with a life-sustaining atmosphere.

God had to know how big to make the earth. As God’s final step, He created just two people, but 6,000 years later, there are 7.9 billion people. God had to make an earth big enough to sustain the future population and to provide for all of its needs. He had to make it large enough that the earth’s spin wouldn’t cause dizziness to people or damage to vegetation.

God had to determine the shape of the earth. For millennia, man believed the earth was flat like a pancake, but God knew that wouldn't work. God created a sphere that could spin on its axis to create day and night and that could revolve through space to create years. A cube couldn't do that, and a triangle wouldn't work either. Imagine the difficulty if man had to deal with those harsh geographic structures rather than the gradual curvature of the earth, or the danger if he really could fall off the edge.

God had to determine how to suspend the earth in open space. Man might imagine doing that with a helium balloon or with the tiny puff of a dandelion seed, neither of which will stay suspended indefinitely. Man has no way of suspending anything except very briefly and with special scientific mechanisms. In general, though, gravity works against him. Nothing hangs on nothing. Everything needs support. The earth weighs 13 billion trillion tons. (Actually, scientists don't know how much it weighs. They can only guess.) How could something so large even be measured? It seems impossible that such a massive body could be suspended in space, but God figured out exactly how to do that.

God knew how to make creation, and He knew without needing anyone else's help or input. In these verses God merely scratches the surface of what was involved. Space would fail us to explore and describe all the intricacies of God's creation. There are animals with characteristics so unique and body systems so cleverly designed that they leave us in amazement. The system whereby plants grow and provide the oxygen needed for the earth is incredible. The great variety in creation is enough to astound us; there are so many varieties of trees, flowers, birds, insects, animals, and geographic structures. God's wisdom designed all of those.

In future chapters God will refer to some of that diversity, but in this section which focuses on His wisdom, He offers just the foundation of earth's creation. With just the questions about how the earth itself was formed and suspended, man is left in awe of God's wisdom. The reality of God’s immense wisdom is so astronomical that God could effectively prove His point with this aspect alone. He did not need to proceed with additional proofs, of which there are many. A God with that kind of wisdom surely knows what He is doing in the lives of the individuals that He loves.

Our wise God will make all the right decisions for you this week. May you rest completely at peace in this immense and incomprehensible provision.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA