Isaiah Roman

Infinite Wisdom of God

In the final chapters of the book of Job, God asks him some seventy questions he is not able to answer (Job 42: 1-6). It is not the height of arrogance when all those who ignore, deny or reject God even today are not able to answer even one of these questions posed by the infinite, omniscient God of creation? Yet, mankind in his pride, arrogance and “advanced” education is quick to ask, “who are you that I should reverence you?” “What is your word that I should submit in subjection to it?”

The book of Job – among other things – deals with the question of the seemingly absent God and expounds the origins of natural theology. It tells us that there is a witness of the eternal God which is inescapable, but yet which we take for granted every single day and in every single moment of every single day:

Why, since times are not hidden from the Almighty, even those knowing Him do not see His days?¹ (Job 24: 1 LITV)

“He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing². He binds up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. He holds back the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud upon it. He hath compassed the waters with bounds [sands of the beaches], until the day and night come to an end.³ The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He divides the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smites through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26: 7-14 KJV)

“But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knows not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.” (Job 28: 12-13 KJV)

The deep says, “It is not in me”; the sea says, “It is not with me.” It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver. It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or lapis lazuli. Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it, nor can it be had for jewels of gold. Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies. The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it; it cannot be bought with pure gold.

Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky. Destruction a and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”

God understands the way to it for he views the ends of the earth the bow ever new in my hand. “People listened to me expectantly, waiting in silence for my counsel and sees everything under the heavens. When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it. And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28: 14-28 TNIV).

1. “Thus saith the LORD; If you [are able to] break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne [forever]” (Jeremiah 33: 20-21) The KJV, LITV and YLT render this verse almost identically, but the NIV and TNIV pose the question as : “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgement? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?” This is the question of the hiddenness of God; why doesn’t God just step in and fix things? Whereas the question proposed in the KJV seems to render as; since God knows everything throughout time, why do those knowing Him not see His effect in time?
2. For those who propose that primitive peoples invented legends of cosmology such as Atlas, or the great elephant please note that the Hebrew idea of the earth is that God hands the earth on nothing, in space.
3. When the last enemy, death, is destroyed, the final judgment is pronounced, the heavens and the earth are cleansed of all sin and its effects are destroyed; night and day as well as time, as it is commonly known, shall be no more; “…there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelations 22:5).