Job CLXXXVII

 Generally, men react in one of two ways when confronted with wisdom beyond their capacity to process and understand. The first way is to pause, consider, and acknowledge that their understanding is limited, and that, within that limited knowledge, they are unable to grasp the full breadth of what is being said. They’re humble enough to admit that they don’t know everything, and there is still wisdom to be learned. So they ask follow-up questions, clarification, and detail, as was the case with Nicodemus when he came to Jesus by night.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was no fool, nor one for whom wisdom was out of reach, yet the first words that Jesus spoke to him left him scratching his head, all his amassed wisdom no more than a ruin, because he could not wrap his mind around the idea of being born again.

The other way is to condescend, demean, brush off, and patronize, slinging insults as was the case with Festus upon hearing the wisdom of Paul.

Rather than admit to their own ignorance, those who think highly of themselves would rather react with scorn and ridicule because it keeps the image they have of themselves intact, even if it’s empty words and make-believe.

Hundreds of years after Job’s interaction with Bildad, Paul faced a similar retort after passionately detailing his conversion and the sacrifice, resurrection, and Lordship of Christ Jesus, before King Agrippa. A man named Festus spoke up and loudly said, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”

What sparked Festus’s outburst wasn’t the concern that too much learning was driving Paul mad, but that what Paul was saying could not be found in the tomes he, too, had studied. This was wisdom and knowledge on another level, and it made Festus feel small and inferior. He had to save face. He was, after all, in the presence of the king, and it seemed as though Paul was making headway. That could not stand. If anyone were to be seen as a man of wisdom, it would be him, and if you can’t surpass another on merit and skill, you drag them down to your level because it’s the only option afforded to you.

It was the same spirit, just in a different context. There are only so many ways you can call a man a fool, a madman, someone who’s had a break from reality and is now in the throes of madness. Neither Job nor Paul was mad. Neither had lost their mind nor had they broken from reality. Their understanding of the spiritual, the supernatural, or God’s faithfulness in a given situation was simply beyond the level of those they addressed. As a universal defense mechanism, the spiritually inferior parties went on the attack, insisting that what they were saying could not be so because they did not concur or see it in a similar light.

Thankfully, in our day and age, we have a standard for the truth, a standard for godly wisdom, and a standard for knowledge, and though those who are perishing might still see it as foolishness, it is nothing less than the power of God. It’s not access to truth that transforms a man; it is the knowledge thereof, coupled with action, wherein once we know the truth, we are accountable to live it, submit to it, and follow its precepts.

The Bible is the only thing in existence whose widespread availability does not diminish its inherent value. Usually, the rarer something is, the more valuable it becomes, and the more of something you can find at your local five-and-dime, the less value it holds. While you can get a pair of decent sneakers for the price of a not-so-gourmet meal at Olive Garden, people are paying five and six figures for rare pairs of Jordans.

The same cannot be said for the Word of God. Whether, as is the case in certain parts of the world, it’s rare to the point that people will write entire books of the Bible by hand, as individual pages get passed through the community so that they can be copied, or you find one in the nightstand of every motel you spend the night in, the value inherent in Scripture remains constant, undiminished, and priceless.

Men who understood the true worth of the Bible sacrificed livelihoods, freedom, and even their very lives for its sake, making it their mission in life to get as many Bibles into the hands of as many hungry souls as they could. Some spent years in prison, others were not so fortunate and succumbed to the torture and privation they underwent for the high crime of being branded a Bible smuggler.

They were tireless in their endeavor, and no sacrifice was too big. It wasn’t because they treated the gospel as any other book, but because they understood that there was no other book in the world that came close to equaling the power it held, and the wisdom it contained.

To this day, men and women in certain parts of the world are laying down their lives to spread the message of the cross to any who would hear, as well as those who risk a life sentence or worse just to possess a copy of the book that many in the West treat so flippantly.  

That we would spend more time arguing endlessly over things that hold no eternal weight rather than studying the Word of God isn’t just telling but tragic. That we would ignore, dismiss, or disregard the Word for which so many have suffered in lieu of feelings, opinions, fanciful tales, fables, and vain imaginings is simply criminal.

This generation has much to answer for, for it was given much, far more than any other generation that came before it, yet they did nothing with all that they’ve been given. We have encyclopedic amounts of wisdom at our fingertips, everything from the Bible itself to Greek and Hebrew translations, to a glut of commentaries for every book of the Bible. Yet, we’re more confused, lukewarm, undecided, duplicitous, hypocritical, and situational about the faith than any generation to come before us.

We are reticent to obey, unwilling to sacrifice, and have come to believe that humbling ourselves at the foot of the cross is somehow beneath us. Yet, we’re always first in line when it comes to claiming blessings, prosperity, and insisting that we will be caught up first, before any untoward event could impress upon us the need to endure and overcome. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.