Wisdom and understanding don’t seem to be talked about much these days. We hear news all the time of ever more clever inventions, the accumulation of knowledge, material success, achievement, physical beauty, fitness, wealth, and fame. We’re dazzled by the intelligence that comes in many forms… artistic genius, scholarly endeavors, engineering feats, medical breakthroughs, extraordinary physical prowess, etc. They all point to gifts these can bring to the world. But intelligence can also be misused or misappropriated for selfish gain and bring untold damage to people’s lives and the world.
Today we live in a world where the term Artificial intelligence gets tossed about with both promise and suspicion, bringing into focus the gifts and potential harm such a tool could be used for. More often than not, we hear how AI is being used to bring about deceptions, create doubt, sow seeds of divisions and hatred. It begs the question, “Where should we look for wisdom and understanding?”
When Job is responding to Bildad and his other “friends,” he questions the platitudes and poetic language they offer when confronted with the tragedy and injustice in Job’s life. Job is sarcastic in letting his friend know that despite knowing God, trusting him, and believing in him, terrible things have happened. He protests his friend’s condemnation and judgment about why these things are happening to him. What Job needs is real answers – and so he explores what wisdom and understanding truly mean when contemplating God’s path:
23 “God alone understands the way to wisdom;
he knows where it can be found,
24 for he looks throughout the whole earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
28 And this is what he says to all humanity:
‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom;
to forsake evil is real understanding.’”
After God confronts Job’s bitterness, Job is willing to admit that his own understanding is imperfect and incomplete. His eventual humility, repentance, obedience, and faith in God lead to real wisdom, and his refusal to speak or do evil even amid pain and despair is deep and real understanding. For all their words of explanation, judgment, and condemnation, it was Job’s friends who were the ones who got it all wrong. So wrong in fact that it’s only Job’s awe, wonder, respect, and acknowledgment of God’s power and his prayer that rescued them from God’s anger.
Like Job, Jesus faced hostile and self-righteous religious leaders who should have been his friends but instead tried to trip him up and condemn him. When they asked him “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus’ answer shut them down because his understanding and wisdom were perfect. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30) & “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31)
Question for reflection:
- If you’ve noticed that you’ve placed the “greatest commandment” in second place to worldly sources of wisdom and understanding, ask God, “What are we going to do about that?”
- When faced with personal tragedy or injustice, where do you find support, comfort, strength, and hope? How do you pray?
- When seeing someone else going through difficulty, what gets in your way of offering the kind of support you would have appreciated most during your own time of need?