What We Know Not

Daily Reading:  Job 42

I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me. (Job 42.3)

Devotional Thought: Some people just sound like experts, don't they?  They can use big words and sound so convincing.  Yet, we often discover that their words and arguments are simply noise.  For all their bluster and bravado, they speak of things which they know not.  I've been in that place before, and it's not fun finding out that your fine arguments are just a blowing in the wind!

We've come to the end of the book of Job.  It's been a wonderful journey, has it not?  For Job, it was a journey of up - then down - and then back up.  God has finally come to Job and revealed his nature and his steadfast love.  Job - too proud or too hurt to do it before - finally admits that he doesn't really have life figured out.  All that he has said before was just a blowing in the wind.

We do that, don't we?  The temptation is there to say something!  But, two things come to mind.  First, is the biblical maxim, "Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise" (Proverbs 17.28a).  And second, the quote by Abraham Lincoln, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

It's painful to go on and on as if you know what you are talking about only to have a real expert speak up and contradict you.  Job experienced that pain.  I want to avoid it.  Do you?

Prayer: Lord, on this day help me to keep a tight rein on my pride and my tongue.  I humble myself before you to hear what you might have to say to me.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 127.1-5

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.