Sermon for March 3rd, 2024
Job 12:11-25 (OT p.462)
Scripture passage incorporated into the sermon.
In Pursuit of Wisdom, Part II
A young executive was leaving the office late one evening when he found the CEO standing in front of a paper shredder with a piece of paper in his hand. "Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work?" "Certainly," said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button. "Excellent, excellent!" said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."
Today's sermon is about the shredding of very important things. And I promise, there's a connection with the pursuit of wisdom, too.
Last week, we covered the first half of Job chapter 12, where Job responds to his three friends who have come to comfort him in his grief and loss. They're not doing a great job, at least not in Job's opinion, and so he sarcastically calls them out in verse 2, saying "Surely you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!" Job then goes on to lay out his own philosophy for where wisdom (and comfort in the face of tragedy) can be found--speak to the earth and it will teach you. Look to the birds, the fish, the plants and the animals. For Job, wisdom begins by looking for the creator in his creation. Simple enough...and yet too often we pile on layers and layers of complications. More on that later. For now, let's pick up where we left off, in verse 11. Job is about to make a transition in his speech.
11 Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? 12 Is wisdom with the aged and understanding in length of days? 13 “With God are wisdom and strength; he has counsel and understanding.
Job starts with a metaphor--testing words with your ears, the way you taste food with your palate. This is experiential learning, trial and error, very much in keeping with Job's wisdom philosophy. In theory, if you keep trying things and none of them kill you, by the time you are aged, you will also be very experienced. Job poses this as a question, and it might seem at first like he answers in the negative: Is wisdom with the aged? No, with God are wisdom and strength, not with old people. But I think the answer is meant to be superlative rather than negative. In other words, yes--wisdom comes from age and length of days. And who is older than anyone else? God, of course. The aged are wiser, but God is wisest. Of course, this is a setup for all that God DOES in his infinite wisdom. Verse 14:
14 If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up. 15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. 16 With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
God's strength and wisdom can sometimes appear destructive. Look in particular at verse 15. God withholds the waters and there's a drought. Now, Job could have said that when God sends the waters back out, they water the earth providing nourishment to the plants and animals. But instead, he says they overwhelm the land. In other words, God sends both drought AND floods. Both are destructive. Both come from God. Verse 17:
17 He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges. 18 He looses the sash of kings and binds a waistcloth on their loins. 19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
Counselors, judges, kings, and priests--all public figures, publicly humiliated by God, who strips from them the symbolic clothing of their office. By the way, all those professions--counselors, judges, kings, and priests--are associated with wisdom (or at least you would hope they might be wise in order to perform their role competently). But it gets worse. Verse 20:
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders. 21 He pours contempt on princes and looses the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers deep things from the darkness and brings deep darkness to light. 23 He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away. 24 He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste. 25 They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.
