Original subtitles

hello again my name is dawn Carson

you are watching the sixth in a series

of fourteen addresses designed to

introduce you to the God who is there in

this talk I try to get across to

depictions of God in the Bible first the

God who makes his people sing and second

the God who is unfathomably wise these

two topics reflect certain kinds of

writing in the Old Testament certain

literary zhang's first the many Psalms

and other poems often meant to be sung

and second a short collection of

documents in the Bible often called the

wisdom literature but these two themes

singing and wisdom are much more than a

mere reflection of certain kinds of

writing in the Bible the singing erupts

because God has given his people so much

to sing about and wisdom is pursued that

is knowing how to live under God in this

God's world wisdom is pursued because we

are to recognize how unfathomably wise

God Himself is we come now to two

further topics that I'm putting together

the God who makes his people sing and

the God who is unfathomably wise we come

to two types of literature in the Old

Testament Scriptures in the parts of the

Bible that belong to the Old Testament

one is the Book of Psalms and the other

is an array of books that are really

quite different from one another called

wisdom literature neither of these books

brings the story forward a whole lot

they're not part of the narrative

sequence of books that tell us what

happens next to the Jews or what's going

on in the world history of the time or

something like that but they

nevertheless reflect

the experiences the insight the

revelation of God that is given to

people living in these times so it's not

the narrative that goes forward and yet

there's such a big part of the Old

Testament that they really can t be

ignored we we must say something about

these books to understand what they

contribute to our grasp of God as he's

disclosed himself in the Bible

so first the God who makes his people

sing some wag has said let me write the

songs of a nation and I care not who

makes its laws now granted some of the

things that are being sung today that's

a pretty scary thought and yet you can

understand it if people are walking

around with iPods and music all the time

whatever they decide in Washington what

I really think is what I'm listening to

in my iPod in the Old Testament the book

that incorporates most of this song like

him like material is the Book of Psalms

virtually in the middle of the Bible 150

of them it was written over a period of

about 1200 years it wasn't somebody

sitting down to make it their writing

project in a particular year for example

one of the Psalms is a psalm of Moses

taking you all the way back to the first

part of the Bible then there are many

Psalms by David himself who was a

musician and in due course helped to

organize the choirs and so on that were

connected with the ancient tabernacle

and then improved again by his son David

under the new temple that he solemnly

under the new temple that Solomon

oversaw and then there are Psalms that

depict the experiences of the people of

God as they're going off into exile and

then there are

Psalms that depict the people of God as

they come back from exile which brings

you down to about 400 BC they really

cover a very broad period of time do you

see obviously there's no way we can

serve 850 Psalms what I would like to do

is drop in on a few of them so that you

can overhear what they were singing

they're very very diverse for those of

you who have been Christians for some

time and have got to know some elderly

believers you've probably discovered

that often it's the elderly Christians

who love the Book of Psalms there aren't

a lot of people at 25 who know the Book

of Psalms well I'll tell you why it's

because the Book of Psalms resonates

with people who have had a lot of

experiences you have to have quite a lot

of different experiences under your belt

before you resonate easily with a lot of

the things that are said in the Book of

Psalms lament loss shame death triumph

the exaltation of informed and godly God

centered praise the Biblical prophecy

anticipating what is still to come did

you see if instead you have a very

limited experience most of these things

just sound a bit over the top or a bit

extravagant or even alien to you but

I've been by the beds of enough people

who are dying who have been Christians

for a long time and if I ask what would

you like me to read to you Oh some of

them might say the resurrection chapter

first Corinthians 15 or something like

that but many will say Psalm 23 the Lord

is my shepherd or psalm 42 or psalm 40

about how he lifts me out of the miry

bog and sets my feet on a safe stable

place

but until you've been through

experiences where you feel as if you are

wallowing in a mire e bog that Psalm

isn't going to speak so powerfully to

you do you see so let me drop in on a

few Psalms quickly and show you the

kinds of things they say about God and

His people we'll begin at the beginning

Psalm 1 Psalm 1 blessed are those who do

not walk in step with the wicked or

stand in the way that sinners take or

sit in the company of mockers but who

delight in the law of the Lord and

meditate on his law day and night

they're like a tree planted by streams

of water which yields its fruit in

season and whose leaf does not wither

whatever they do prospers not so the

wicked they are like chaff that the wind

blows away therefore the wicked will not

stand in the judgment nor sinners in the

Assembly of the righteous for the Lord

watches over the way of the righteous

but the way of the wicked will be

destroyed now if you just look at the

psalm closely if you have your Bibles in

front of you you discover that it's

broken into three unequal parts verses

one two and three describe the righteous

verses four and five describe the

unrighteous and verse six is a final

summarizing contrast now if you go back

to verses one two and three describing

the righteous they're described

negatively in verse one what they're not

like what they don't do blessed are

those who do not walk in step with the

wicked that is they're walking along and

they are marching beside them they are

coordinated with them they're picking up

advice and counsel from them if you do

that long enough you might stand in the

way that sinners take stand in the way

of people is not an easy translation

almost all our English translations say

something like that the trouble is that

in Hebrew to stand in someone's way does

not mean in English what we mean when we

say stand in someone's way to stand in

someone's way in English means to impede

them

to block their path Robin Hood and

Little John on the bridge each standing

in the others way one of the men's in

the stream do you say but in Hebrew to

stand in someone's way means to have

your feet in their moccasins

to do what they do to be in

differentiable from them you're not

blocking them you're you're where they

are do you see you stand in their way

which is why this version has it

somewhat periphrastic aliy to stand in

the way that sinners take your now where

they are and if you do that long enough

you might sit in the company of mockers

now you're in your easy boy chair you

pull the lever and look down your long

self-righteous nose of those ignorant

stupid ignorant right-wing bigoted

Christians on the very first verse of

the very first Psalm says blessed are

those who don't do these things it's

describing him negatively then verse 2

describes them positively positively

they delight in the law of the Lord and

meditate on his law day and night that

is this is what they think about it

changes them when I first started treat

teaching a Trinity Evangelical Divinity

School we had a lecturer there an old

man already at the time who had any

number of one-liners out of about 50

years of ministry and some of them were

really good one of his best was you're

not what you think you are but what you

think you are

isn't that what the Book of Proverbs

says as a man thinks in his heart so is

he

you're not just what you say or what you

do because we can say and do things to

cover up what's really going on inside

but what you think you are so this text

says that the righteous person learns to

think God's thoughts after him he

delights in the law of the Lord he

meditates on God's Word day and night

it's not just a question of a verse a

day keeps the devil away make sure that

you read in a corner somewhere and have

a Bible verse handy or make sure you

have your devotions it's it's it's such

a love affair with all that God says

that it feeds your mind you you go for a

lunch break or the light turns red ahead

of you and you sit in your car and your

mind just in in the blank moments

naturally gravitates toward thinking

through what God says it's it's there

all the time you meditate on a day in

life because you see that means that

you're now not listening to the advice

of the wicked or developing paths that

are in differentiable from theirs or

slinking down into a sneaky mockery and

then the same people are described

metaphorically in verse three we're told

they are like a tree planted by streams

of water which yields its fruit in

season and whose leaf does not wither

whatever they do prospers the land of

Palestine the land of Israel is a

semi-arid land a bit like the American

Southwest so that you can have seasons

of the year when there's no rain at all

and the dry arroyos in the southwest

just look like death warmed over and

then suddenly you can have some rains

and then gullies can be washed oh they

can be really quite dangerous flash

floods they call them wha T's in Israel

but that means that land it seems like

death suddenly blooms it comes to life

and you have all of these desert flowers

but it's only where there is a

confluence of streams

intermittent water but a confluence of

streams with a guaranteed water supply

that you have trees whose leaf never

withers and that brings forth its fruit

in its season in that sense you see it

always prospers this is not talking

about a prosperity gospel follow Jesus

and get filthy rich it's still in the

metaphor of this tree this tree

prosperous even when there's heat and

blight and the like because it's well

watered it it is always evergreen it's

showing signs of life and in due course

it produces fruit that's language that

you find not uncommonly in the Bible you

understand why if you're brought up in

that sort of country you you you you see

these cycles of things every year hence

Jeremiah 17 a prophet writing about 600

or a little later cursed are those who

trust in mortals who depend on flesh for

their strength and whose hearts turn

away from the Lord they will be like a

bush in the wastelands they will not see

prosperity when it comes that is the

prosperity of life and growth and

fruitfulness again they will dwell in

the parched places of the desert in a

salt land where no one lives but blessed

are those who trust in the Lord whose

confidence is in him they will be like a

tree planted by the water that sends out

its roots by the stream it does not fear

when heat comes its leaves are always

green it has no worries in a year of

drought and never fails to bear fruit so

here's the righteous person described

negatively positively metaphorically

then in verses 4 & 5 the unrighteous are

described it's a very strong negative

not so the wicked not so as if

everything of significance that you want

to predicate of the righteous you have

to negate of the unrighteous are the

righteous those who avoid the counsel

and the patterns of life of rebels and

ungodly people not so the wicked not so

are the righteous those who delight in

the law of the Lord and think about it

day and night not so the wicked not so

are the righteous those who can be

likened to a tree planted by streams of

water which yields its fruit in its

season

whose leaf never withers not so the

wicked not so but what do they like

they're like chaff that the wind blows

away that is the images of the ancient

grain harvest where someone would take

the heads of grain that have come in and

with a winnowing shovel throw them up in

the ground in the air and beat them

throw them up in the air and beat them

the chaff falls off and the wind blows

it away and the grains fall to the

ground when the grains become the basis

for your flour and your bread all the

rest the chaff goes rootless lifeless

fruitless useless until there's a final

summarizing contrast which is strictly

speaking not even between the righteous

and the wicked but between the way of

the righteous in the way of the wicked

the Lord watches over the righteous that

is he owns it as his he protects it the

way of the wicked will be destroyed like

tracks made on the seashore when the

tide is out then the tide rolls in the

tide rolls out and you don't see the

tracks

50 billion years from now if I may dare

speak of eternity in the categories of

time no one will be talking about the

significance of Stalin or Pol Pot but

every cup of cold water given in the

name of Jesus will still be remembered

because the Lord watches over the way of

the righteous the way of the wicked will

perish that's the first song two ways

and there is no third

now there are a lot of Psalms like that

they're sometimes called wisdom Psalms

the Psalms and the wisdom literature get

tied together because in wisdom

literally the way of wisdom is cast

against the way of falling we'll see

shortly that wisdom literature regularly

offers you a choice between two ways

that's why this is sometimes called a

wisdom Psalm in the New Testament you

know who the most remarkable wisdom

preacher is Jesus now Jesus isn't in

fact an astonishingly flexible preacher

he preaches using apocalyptic imagery he

preaches using one-liners he preaches

telling parables he's an astonishingly

flexible preacher but in not a few of

his addresses he uses these sorts of

wisdom categories two ways you come for

example to the end of Matthew five six

and seven the Sermon on the Mount and he

offers a number of vignettes that are

exactly along this line he says picture

two people one builds a house on rock

the other builds a house on sand on sand

it's not stable the storms come in the

water rises the winds lash the place it

collapses the house that is strongly

built on rock it endures they're just

two houses it rather misses the point to

say Jesus supposing a try hard pan clay

you can't do that it's it's it's wisdom

preaching it's this way or that way in

the same context he says of wide is the

gate and broad is the path that leads to

destruction and many go there but the

gate is narrow and the way constraint

that leads to eternal life and only a

few go in there Jesus that one's a bit

destructive this one's a bit sort of

narrow fundamentalist how about a

medium-sized gate I I couldn't make do

with that you can't do that do you see

it's wisdom literature it's

I'm preaching its this way or that way

they're only two ways and you know

what's scary about wisdom literature you

know what's scary about this Psalm it's

that if you're really really honest you

never quite fit the good way oh there

are times I delight in the law of the

Lord and meditate on a day and night

they're quite there are other times

quite frankly where it's a real struggle

to really delight in the law of the Lord

don't you find that and where you find

yourself parched not nourished at all by

the Word of God as streams of water

flooding through your whole system so

that although these wisdom psalms show

two ways they clarify our thinking and

show us that there are some differences

out there that must not be fudged over

even though most of us most of us find

ourselves in the middle sometimes acting

this way sometimes acting that way like

King David himself King David who's

responsible for some of these Psalms

King David who is rightly described as a

man after God's own heart who can also

commit adultery and even arrange for a

murder one wonders what he would have

done if he hadn't been a man after God's

own heart so that once again as

important as these Psalms are as

important as wisdom literature is to

teach us that there is a difference

between holiness and unholiness between

righteousness and unrighteousness and

you can't keep fetching yet at the end

of the day that information by itself

doesn't save you all by itself it

clarifies but it could drive you to

despair

but that's not all there is in the Bible

let me mention some other Psalms Psalm 8

not only praises God for his power in

creation you have set your glory above

the heavens but also marbles at the fact

that God has a peculiar relation with

human beings mortals human beings verse

4 you're mindful of them you care for

them you have actually set them above

the rest of the created order

you made them rulers over the works of

your heads you put everything under

their feet all flocks and herds at the

animals of the while the birds and the

sea the fish and let's see all that swim

the paths of the Seas Lord our Lord how

majestic is your name in all the earth

do you hear what this is this is a hymn

that has been composed as a reflection

on Genesis 1 and 2 you find quite a lot

of Psalms like that that are meditative

reflections for the corporate worship of

the people of God based on earlier

scriptures people reflecting on them and

singing these truths not just reciting

them and reading them but singing them

or Psalm 19 another one that is a

reflection on how the created order does

reflect who God is the heavens declare

the glory of God the skies proclaim the

work of his hands day after day they

pour forth speech night after night they

display knowledge they have no speech

they use no words no sound is heard from

them yet their voice goes out into all

the earth their words to the ends of the

world in the heavens he is pitched a

tent for the Sun which is like a

bridegroom coming out of his chamber

like a champion rejoicing to run his

course it rises at one end of the

heavens and makes it circuit to the

other nothing is deprived of its warmth

and then after talking about how the

Lord has disclosed himself in this

created order he talks about how the

Lord has disclosed himself in Scripture

or to change the pace entirely take a

look at the opening line of psalm 14

fool say in their hearts there is no God

I have a friend in Australia who has a

bit of a reputation for engaging in

talking about Christ a bit like a bull

in a china shop he once gave an address

called atheists are fools and agnostics

are cowards now by and large that's not

a great way to win friends and influence

people but there is a sense in which

that's what this psalm begins with it's

the fool who says in his heart there is

no God that is so out of line with

contemporary perceptions the fool is the

idiot who believes there is a God but

look at it from God's perspective just

grab for a moment just just just grab

for a moment that the God of the Bible

is real he is there he's the God who is

there and what the Bible is said so far

is entirely true

who's the fool

you see this is not written from the

point of view of someone who sets

himself up in the heritage of Hyundai

decoctions sort of Cartesian

independence saying I think I am in the

place where I can evaluate whether God

exists in which God it will be this is

the God who was there who has named

himself disclosed himself in forbearance

he's come back again and again to save

his people and he keeps promising an

even greater deliverance to come and he

insists that the reason people don't see

this is because this side of the fall

there's already a moral contagion such

that we are blind to the obvious it's

the fool who says in his heart there is

no God which does not mean that no

Christian is a fool what it means is

that everyone who has become a Christian

started off a fool and if in this

respect we are no longer foolish that -

in the Bible story line is a mark of

singular grace Christians never ever

have the right to say I'm smarter than

you are

because Christians deep down know that

they're never more than fools who have

been shown forgiveness and grace they're

never more than poor beggars telling

other poor beggars where there's bread

let's try another song a different

approach again psalm 40 this is a psalm

of personal experience that develops

into something more i don't have time to

go through all of it but here were told

by the superscription that this is one

of the ones written by david himself i

waited patiently for the Lord he turned

to me and heard my cry he lifted me out

of the slimy pit out of the mud and mire

he set my feet on a rock and gave me a

firm place to stand he put a new song in

my mouth a hymn of praise to our God

many will see and fear the Lord and put

their trust in him we don't know what

this miry bog is what this slimy pit is

it was obviously something so awful in

his experience that he felt the way you

do in a mire e bog in a slimy pit that

is desperate unable to get out sliding

into oblivion sucked down and God pulled

him out and much of the rest of the

Psalm talks about how he he will respond

to that by devoting himself to the

Living God how he must give testimony to

this in the community of God's people

and then in the last part of the psalm

he openly acknowledges that just because

he's been through this sort of

experience doesn't mean that he won't be

through other bleak experiences and just

because you've been through a divorce

doesn't mean that you're therefore going

to be spared cancer just because you've

had cancer doesn't mean that you won't

lose your spouse just because you've had

a kid go off the rails doesn't mean that

you won't be in a car accident life in

this fallen and broken world brings all

kinds of heartaches and defeats and

discouragements and he gives thanks to

God for God's help and release on this

one and then he looks to the future and

says there's so many other things Lord

God where I'm gonna need your help false

friends for example do not withhold your

mercy from me Lord verse 11 may your

love and faithfulness always protect me

for troubles without numbers surround me

my

since for a start they have overtaken me

and I cannot see there are more than the

hairs of my head and my heart fails

within me be pleased to save me Lord

come quickly Lord to help me the worst

thing that I face is not just this slimy

pit experience through which I passed

but my own sins which crippled me and

crush me and take me down because I look

at my own heart and I cannot even fit

someone but there are other troubles

those who mock him and give him

difficulties verses 14 and 15 may those

who say to me a-ha a-ha be appalled at

their own shame so here's a psalm of

huge intensity as as a believer looks at

how God has helped him and looks to the

way he's going to need to God's help in

the future another Psalm Psalm 51 and

here it is very important to read the

superscription it's a psalm of David

when the prophet Nathan came to him

after David had committed adultery with

Bathsheba this is the account where he

seduces a young woman next door who is

the wife of one of David's own troops

fighting on the front in one of David's

Wars how callous is that the war goes on

and it transpires that Bathsheba's

become pregnant she lets the King know

so he arranges to have her husband Uriah

shipped back from the front he sends a

message your eye is supposed to bring

back a message to the king ostensibly to

communicate between the officers in the

field and the commander-in-chief in fact

it's David's way of getting the bloke

home and he thinks then that he'll go

home and he'll sleep with his wife but

in fact he's so concerned for his mates

at the front he can't even bring himself

to do that so he sleeps in the open

courtyard of the palace prepared to go

back the next day

and King David nosey snookered so he

sends back a message by this young man's

hand a sealed message for the unit

commanders on the front there to arrange

a skirmish and everybody else in the

platoon is supposed to have some sort of

code to know when to fall back

everyone except this young man you daya

there in the skirmish the code is given

everybody falls back except you daya and

he's killed and David thinks he's got

away with it

and that's when the Prophet Nathan

confronts him

David in the steps of public humiliation

and shame and public repentance and so

on it's all out in the open it's a mess

nevertheless he is a broken man out of

it all and in the midst of this he

writes Psalm 51 that's what is meant by

this new prescription it's written when

the prophet Nathan came to him after

David had committed adultery with

Bathsheba have mercy on me O God

according to your great compassion blot

out my transgressions wash away all my

iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for

I know my transgressions and my sin is

always before me have you not had

feelings like that when you've woken up

in the middle of the night and

remembered some insanely evil thing that

you've done some really stupid thing and

you you break out into a cold sweat and

squirm and wish you couldn't do it but

can't my sin is always before me against

you you only have I sinned and done this

evil in your sight now isn't that a

stunning comment at one level you want

to say it's not true he sinned against

Bathsheba he seduced her sinned against

Bathsheba's husband he had him bumped

off after Cooke holding him sinned

against his own family he betrayed them

sinned against the military High Command

he corrupted them sinned against the

people he's not acting as a righteous

King it's hard to think of anybody that

he didn't sin against yet he has the

cheek to say against you only have I

sinned and done this evil in your sight

because you see at the deepest level it

is exactly the truth

what makes sin so heinous

what makes in so sinful is precisely

that it defies God I mean it's awful

that we hurt our friends it's awful that

we wound one another and when we wake up

in the middle of the night with those

feelings of huge shame often it's

because we're embarrassed that what our

friends will think of us now because we

said something so stupid or been so

insensitive or or so cruel but beyond

all of the shame before them is a much

bigger guilt then we're rarely even

aware of and do not often squirm over

but that's what David is doing here he's

squirming over it because he sees what

it is in God's sight against you you

only have I sinned what gives it its

most horrendous odor it's most heinous

aspect is precisely that it is defiance

of the God who made us and who judges us

on the last day and David understands

that because you see he understands the

opening chapters of Genesis

the heart of Eve's problem or of Adam's

problem is not that they've just broken

a rule or betrayed each other's trust or

the like it's they've de God of God in

any sin that we commit whether it's

genocide or cheating on your income tax

the most offended party is always God

against you only have I sinned and done

this evil in your sight and that's why

as we've seen from the beginning what we

must have whatever else we have what we

must have is his forgiveness or we have

nothing oh there are other Psalms Psalm

110 Psalm 110 looks to a coming Redeemer

who was simultaneously the king and a

priest it's the most frequently quoted

chapter in the New Testament there psalm

119 the longest chapter in the Old

Testament a chapter which which is full

of Thanksgiving to God in a meditation

on the very nature of God's words of

God's self-disclosure in words of his

law of his decrees of his judgments of

his teaching of his instruction it's

it's all about what we would call the

Bible it's all about how to think about

the fact that God is a talking God a God

who speaks and gives us his words Psalm

139 says something of the same in one

verse verse 17 how precious are your

thoughts

o God how vast is the sum of them this

is the God who makes his people sing in

Thanksgiving in contrition and petition

in lament in reflection

but he's also the wise God the book of

Proverbs

has one kind of wisdom literature a lot

of Proverbs that in the book of Proverbs

you find two metaphorical women wisdom

itself is regularly pictured as a woman

lady wisdom and over against her is Dain

folly and the whole book is structured

in many of its sections as a course laid

out either by lady wisdom or game

falling one or the other you're

following one of these ladies wisdom

literature likes to present either this

path or that path it will compare two

things and say this is the way of wisdom

and this is the way of falling make sure

that what you follow is the way of

wisdom and right toward the beginning of

the book a proverb that recurs in a

variety of ways chapter one verse seven

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of

knowledge but fools despise wisdom and

instruction a little later the fear of

the Lord is the beginning of wisdom this

does not mean the kind of cringing fear

that a whipped cur has when you pick up

a newspaper knowing that you're an

arbitrary and cruel master who gets some

sort of cheat Clee out of scaring the

poor little thing to death this is the

fear of God that recognizes he is

matchless Lee holy and righteous and

just and he is our judge as well as our

only hope there lies the beginning of

wisdom you see this as the Proverbs

equivalent of Psalm 14 it's the fool who

says in his heart there is no God to

have a right sense of how to live under

the Sun must begin with God and his

self-disclosure there is the beginning

of wisdom

then there are other books that are

called wisdom literature one that's very

remarkable this is the book of Job we

really don't know when it was written

it's probably very old and it depicts a

man who

oh he's not perfect but he's an

astonishingly good man filthy rich but

generous caring loving he even praised

preemptively for his own ten children he

prays preemptively lest they should

commit any sins and do something bad

he's generous with the poor he could

testify I made a covenant with my own

heart that I would not look on on women

in order to lust after them he's an

astonishingly pious men but he doesn't

know the behind the scenes the devil our

dear friend from Genesis 3 returns Satan

he returns and makes a wager with God

the only reason why Joel likes you is

because he's filthy rich and you protect

him you you you take away all the good

things that he's got and he'll turn out

and curse you to your face and God says

go ahead just don't hurt him

and in successive waves of marauding

riffs his cattle are stolen his herds

are decimated a windstorm comes along

the house where his children are having

a party blows down and all ten of his

kids are killed and the man says naked I

came out of my mother's womb naked I

will return the Lord gives the Lord

takes away blessed be the name of the

Lord

Satan says to God you know I skin for

skin just take away this chaps health

and he'll curse you to your face and God

says go ahead but spare his life and

pretty soon you find him on an ash pit

using pieces of broken pottery picking

away at his scabs when three friends

come in to visit him they sit down and

for a week they do nothing but simply

keep quiet the wisest thing they could

do and then the rest of the book is set

out as a drama

these friends think they've got the

theology all under control

they say Joe do you believe that God is

sovereign yes do you believe that God is

just yes so if he's sovereign and he's

just and you're suffering then the

implication is Jobe says I know that God

is sovereign I know that he's just but

quite frankly I don't deserve this I I'm

I'm an innocent stuff right I shouldn't

be suffering this joke do you hear what

you're saying

are you saying that God is making a

mistake or that God is unjust to you oh

no no I'm not saying that I know that

God is sovereign I know that he's just

but but I still have to say that this

isn't fair what I'm going through and

then the discussion gets hotter and

hotter until eventually the friends

begin to say job you don't understand

you've got more sins behind you that you

don't even recognize sins since that

you've committed you don't even know

about that then you can possibly imagine

otherwise you're really saying that God

is unjust and if that's the case then

what you really ought to do is confess

them in any case even if you can't name

any specific ones just sort of confess

generally to God and God will forgive

you and everything will get better and

Jobe says how can I possibly do that how

can I repent of something I don't know

what I've done wrong

how can I possibly repent and claim that

I'm asking for God's mercy and

forgiveness when I don't think that I

deserve this that wouldn't be making me

a liar that would be action

be sitting against God what I really

need is a lawyer I wish I had somebody

who would go between God and me that's

what I need and the tension mounts and

mounts and mounts I won't go through all

of the levels of argumentation but

eventually God speaks you know what he

says job

have you ever designed a snowflake hmm

where were you when I made the first

hippopotamus did you give me any wisdom

on how to cast the constellation Orion

into the heavens hmm Joe two or three

chapters of these rhetorical questions

and at the end Jobe says I'm sorry I

spoke foolishly claiming that I know

more than I do I repent and you know

what God says stand up on your feet I'm

not finished yet and has two more

chapters of questions it's stunning

because at the end of the day there is

no systematic answer that's provided to

sort out the entire problem of innocent

suffering all of the rhetorical

questions combined to mean one thing

we're not always going to get the

explanations but God is bigger than we

are and sometimes you just have to trust

him

and then God says that nevertheless Joe

basically got the account right he was

pushing on the arrogance front a bit by

the end but it's the three friends whom

Joe Joe whom God can condemns it's the

three friends whom God condemns because

they think they've got God tacked

they've got him all figured out

he's nicely boxed he's done and at the

end God restores the fortunes of Joe

because after all in the Bible in the

end not only is justice done but it

seemed to be done that too is a book of

wisdom there's one other book of wisdom

that's worth a brief mention here now -

it's the book of Ecclesiastes where

Solomon sets out - to find meaning in

life he thinks of public works and he

devotes himself to public works and

discovers that that is meaningless - and

then he devotes himself to the wisdom

and and literature and writing and

meditation and he discovers that after a

while that isn't satisfying and then he

devotes himself to generosity then he

devotes himself to asceticism and then

he devotes himself to something else is

something else and at the end of the day

nothing

finally satisfies and his conclusion at

the end of it all you come to chapter 12

and he looks back over his life and the

various things that he's attempted to do

in his effort to seek pleasure

meaning fulfillment and he writes

remember your Creator in the days of

your youth before the days of trouble

come in the years approach when you will

say I find no pleasure in them now all

has been heard here is the conclusion of

the matter fear God and keep his

Commandments for this is the duty of

every human being

God will bring every deed into judgment

including every hidden thing whether it

is good or evil that is to say what he

finally comes up with is a teleological

vision a vision of what happens at the

end you have to live in the light of the

end that is wisdom because we will give

an account to this God when we feel in

our hearts and minds as we grow older

that there has to be something more

there has to be something more satisfied

there has to be something bigger we are

right to listen to that brooding voice

because we were made for God and our

souls will be restless until we know him

those are the kinds of things the wisdom

books teach us as the Old Testament

barrels along in its anticipation of the

day when wisdom incarnate will come when

there is some final resolution between

the perfections that God demands in

Psalm 1 and the compromise misconduct of

our own lives when there is a David who

acknowledges that he sins before God and

that he must have God's mercy but his

sins are always before him and there is

no hope before him there is a resolution

still coming and his name is Jesus you