Job 28: 23-28
God understands the way to [wisdom]. He knows where it lives
because He can see to the ends of the Earth and observe everything under Heaven.
When He gave the wind its force and measured the water [in the sea],
when He made rules for the rain and set paths for the thunderstorms,
then He saw it and announced it. He confirmed it and examined it.
So He told humans, "The fear of the Lord is wisdom! To stay away from evil is understanding."
Job is telling us what God is teaching him, that He is Creator and Designer of all that exists, and designed the geography and weather, laying down rules for them to follow.
Nature follows God's rules, and never disobeys.
God is a God of order; so the Earth, Sun, Moon, Stars, all the Universe obey the laws He set for them; and because of that our Science can study them and find out the Natural Laws.
But God has given Mankind a free will to choose whether we will obey the rules He set for us. And because we as a race have disobeyed Him, deciding that we "know better," we find chaos in our lives, our relationships, our governments.
God has given us His written Word to read about the ways He wants us to live, with examples of people who did or didn't obey Him, and the results.
I find the book of Judges is a good textbook to see how, when His people respected Him and obeyed His rules, they experienced prosperity and peace with their surrounding peoples. But when they got self-satisfied and "forgot" the Lord, that's when they were vulnerable to believing all the deceptions being promoted among and around them, and lost their way and their prosperity, even to being conquered by the other Nations around them.
Then they would remember the Lord, cry out to Him, and He would raise up a "judge," a military leader who would deliver them out from under the domination of the other Nation; and they would obey His rules again and regain the peace and prosperity. Until the cycle repeated.
This book teaches me that when I obey the rules He set for me, in loving Him above all and loving my neighbor as myself, then my life flows much more smoothly and I experience peace of mind and heart even in the middle of problems and troubles.
And when governments rule over their people with the good of the people in view (loving their neighbor) instead of their own advancement and finances, then the population is free to pursue their own happiness, bringing prosperity to everyone.
The "fear of the Lord" is the reverential respect due to the One Who has total authority over us, and is the Source of everything we need or want. And when we give Him this first place in our attitudes and life, then we can make our decisions in a wise manner.
When we forget that He is to have pre-eminence in our thinking and turn to some other spiritual being for help, or depend on ourselves or other people to meet our needs; that is going against His ways, which He calls "evil," because it robs us of the order that brings goodness to us, leaving chaos.
Job got it right. Staying away from evil shows that we understand this process, and honoring God as God is the way to think straight and do right.
O my Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Your provision of everything I need or want. Thank You for loving me so much that You even gave up Your most precious, Your only Son, to be the Sacrifice for my sins as the Lamb of God. Thank You that He was willing to go through this Death, that I deserve, as my substitute, so that I could have Your life, Your Holy Spirit living in my spirit, making it alive.
Thank You that Your Spirit is the Seal that I belong to You, and to be my Teacher, as the Spirit of Truth, to open my mind and heart to the Truth of Your Word in my life.
Thank You for Your promises, that I can seek You and You will answer me. That You will always care for me, and lead me, and show me great and mighty things in Your Word. And that I can trust You to always keep Your Word. And that Jesus is returning soon.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
