Can the Creation Understand the Creator? Job 27-28

Job 28:7-8 (ESV)

“That path no bird of prey knows,

and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

The proud beasts have not trodden it;

the lion has not passed over it.

Job has had an enough of his friends in these last chapters. Before his young friend Elihu and God speak, Job goes off on a long dissertation on his view of life.   But the view has a focus. Job is laying the ground work for a very big question he will ask in just a couple of more verses:

Job 28:12 (ESV)

“But where shall wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

Job has just talked about how man digs in the earth for silver and gold and iron.  He has talked about how man can plow the earth and produce grain for bread.   He is simply stating that what man seems to want he can find.  Yet, where is wisdom? That is his concern.  He has not heard it from his friends.  He does not claim to have it himself.  

In the above verses he turns to a very deep and hidden place under the earth we cannot see.  He knows that there is a place where even the falcon’s sharp eyes can’t see.  He knows there is a place where birds can’t even find food.  Job’s point to his friends and us and to himself is that God is not contained in a box that we can understand Him and all that He has done.  The hidden parts of the earth are not even known to us, how can we know God.  Job is about to write:

Job 28:20-22 (ESV)

“From where, then, does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

It is hidden from the eyes of all living

and concealed from the birds of the air.

Abaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

Before we can find wisdom we must realize that God is beyond us and the only things we can know about Him and His creation come from HIs grace and mercy to allow us to know.  Those who don’t understand God want to put the God of the universe into a box so they can dissect Him and, with a small human mind, understand Him.  What we know of God is amazing.   He gives us much to know about Him.  But there are some things hidden.  A creature can’t ever fully understand their Creator.  

Deuteronomy 29:29 (ESV)

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Proverbs 9:10 (ESV)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

 

Prayer For Grace and Mercy - Psalms 39-41

Psalms 39:12-13 (ESV)

“Hear my prayer, O LORD,

and give ear to my cry;

hold not your peace at my tears!

For I am a sojourner with you,

a guest, like all my fathers.

Look away from me, that I may smile again,

before I depart and am no more!”

Although in the inscription of this psalm we know the author (David), Psalm 39 is quite unusual in this ending.  In the content of David’s song we have some notable statements, typical of a psalm of David:

1. He recognizes his sin in his life:

Psalms 39:1 (ESV)

I said, “I will guard my ways,

that I may not sin with my tongue;

I will guard my mouth with a muzzle,

so long as the wicked are in my presence.”

2.  He recognizes his end of life:

Psalms 39:4 (ESV)

“O LORD, make me know my end

and what is the measure of my days;

let me know how fleeting I am!

3. He recognizes his only hope is in God. 

Psalms 39:7 (ESV)

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in you.

But in the closing lines, as typical, he cries out for God for hope, as God is his only hope. But then, in the last couple of lines, there is an ending that moves us in another direction:

For I am a sojourner with you,

a guest, like all my fathers.

Look away from me, that I may smile again,

before I depart and am no more!”

He claims two things that should matter to us in this prayer:

1. He is a sojourner (an alien) to God.   Despite what he said previously he recognizes that his relationship with God, is by God’s invite.  He is a guest in God’s presence. 

2. He asks God to look away from him.  He knows that when we look at God we see our own shame and need for grace and mercy. 

In our walk with God and in our prayers, we know that we are but human.  We are but flesh.  We need God’s grace.  If we are even to see His face, His glory, like all, we would bow down in shame.  David had a relationship with God like no other.  But he also had a reverence for God and saw Him as also a consuming fire.