“God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells.”
~ Job 28:23
Hi James and Ellen,
Is there one thing that you would really like to have? If there is just one thing that you could have, what would that one thing be? Tell your dad and/or ma what the one thing is that you would like to have. What did you tell your dad and/or ma the one thing is that you would like to have? Did you tell your dad and/or ma that you would like to have lots of money to live on for the rest of your lives? Did you tell your dad and/or ma that you would like to live for a long time without ever getting sick or hurt? Did you tell your dad and/or ma that you would like to have your grandmaa and grandpaa living real close to you for the rest of your lives? There are lots of things that are good to have. It is good to have good friends. It is good to have a good education. It is good to be responsible. It is good to have a home. The one thing that you – your dad and ma – your grandmaa and grandpaa – and every other guy, gal and kid who has ever and will ever live on planet Earth need to have is a life filled with hope. Hope comes from having made a decision of faith through believing in what Jesus Christ did for you when God the Father allowed His Son Jesus to be sacrificed on a crude cross to have His blood be an atonement for the sins of His specially elected guys, gals and kids. Your grandpaa likes to say that there are givens in life. It is a given that your dad and ma are to care for you. It is a given that a short term ministry team – if the participants on the team are Christ-followers, will through their lives encourage and bless the guys, gals and kids who live in another country – such as Guatemala. It is a given that guys, gals and kids who are led by God the Spirit to become born again Christ-followers will have hope filled lives. If you answered the question about what you would really like to have with wanting to have lots of money to live on for the rest of your lives – that is not a good answer as you will never ever have enough money to completely make you happy. If you answered the question about what you really would like to have with wanting to live for a long time without ever getting sick or hurt – that is not a good answer as your lives will ultimately come to an end one day just as the life of every guy, gal and kid will. If you answered the question about what you would really like to have with wanting to have your grandmaa and grandpaa always living close to you for the rest of your lives – that is not a good answer as only God will decide where you and your grandmaa and grandpaa will live. A right answer for the question about what you would really like to have is to know that you are in God’s perfect will. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that knowing that they are in God’s will is what is giving them a spirit of hope.
The answer for the question that your grandpaa has asked you today cannot be temporally found. The author of Job 28 says that a guy can dig for the answer but that the guy will not be able to find the answer. It is at the same time still very important that your grandpaa digs for the answer to this question. It would never be a waste of time for you to search for the answer to the question – what is the one thing you would really like to have, that your grandpaa has asked you. If you find just a hint of the answer to what your grandpaa has asked you, you have found something that is worth more than silver, gold, iron, copper or sapphires. This means that you have found just a hint of something that is worth far more than lots of money. If a guy does not have just a hint of something, a guy will look everywhere for the something that the guy knows is missing in his life. Guys will dig deep into the ground to look for the answer to the something that they know that they are missing in their lives. The something that a guy is searching for – if the guy does not have just a hint of what it is, has never been seen by birds – like falcons or by animals – like lions. Just a hint of the answer – which your grandpaa is looking for from you, will go a long ways. you first have to be given just a hint of the answer. Are you beginning to wonder if your grandpaa has gone totally bonkers – as your grandpaa probably is in what he is writing today not making any sense to you? Well . . .
How do you think that Job felt when Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar – three guys who considered themselves to be friends of Job, kept telling Job that he was the fault for everything that had happened to him? Your grandpaa is sure that Job – after hearing Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar accuse him for being the cause for all that had happened to him, did not think of these three guys as being his friends. There is the sense that the author of the Job Book – who was not Job, was writing down as they happened the interactions between Job and the three guys who called themselves Job’s good friends. The author of the Job Book gives the answer – which Job had a hint of but which the three guys who thought of themselves as Job’s friends did not have. The writer of the Job Book – who your grandpaa believes had to have had crossed paths with Melchizedek as the guy obviously knew that God was the creator and overseer of all things seen and unseen, knew that the answer to the question that your grandpaa asked you could not be found on planet Earth and would never be seen by birds and animals. The writer of the Job Book knew that the answer could never be compared to gold, onyx, crystal, coral, jasper or topaz. How do you think that a guy can find something that cannot be seen by a bird or animal, be found on planet Earth and be compared to a precious stone? The answer can be found in verse 23 “God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells.” What do you think is the it in this verse? The it in this verse is wisdom. God only knows the way to wisdom and where wisdom can be found. Hints and micro bits of wisdom – which only God can give to you, are the best thing that you can ever have. Absolutely knowing that God understands what is always going on in your mind will guarantee you the gift of hope.
Job 28 (148)