Are Job’s words echoes of your thoughts?
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes (Job 3:26 ESV).
Like Job, suffering trial after trial, we don’t understand why this is happening. How could we? We are not God and we have limited wisdom as mere humans. But our God is different!
When our limited understanding brings emotional distress in suffering, how can we respond?
Like Job, we honestly lament to God, pouring out every emotion and agonized thought to our loving Father. As we suffer, we need to be honest with Him.
Are you like me? When I’m feeling emotionally wrecked by suffering, I need to ask Him to help me to remember who He is, unchanging in all of His character.
So this week, we remember that our God is perfectly wise. Let’s come to our wise God today, using Scripture in a Biblically patterned “praise interruption.” Just like Job, we’re honest in lament as we interrupt our suffering with bursts of remembering, praise, and settled trust in God’s wisdom.
Where is wisdom?
But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? (Job 28:13 ESV).
Father, we don’t get it, we don’t like this distress. Does anyone understand?
God understands the way to it. And he knows its place (Job 28:23 ESV).
Lord, the pain is bringing us to You in our need. But that’s a wise thing, isn’t it? You tell us:
Turning to my wise God in my pain is wisdom
O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures (Ps. 104:24 ESV).
Creator God, we do remember that You created all things in Your great wisdom. We remember that You interweave billions of simultaneous intricacies in Your created universe.
No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD (Prov. 21:30 ESV).
Powerful, wise, loving, good, and sovereign God, we remember that no one counsels, helps, or teaches You. Nothing and no one can prevail against Your wisdom! In the last chapters of Job, You answered Job’s suffering heart-cries by describing Your glorious, stand-alone wisdom in all things.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
(“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” Smith, W. C., 1867)
We humbly turn to You, our wise Father
Because Your wisdom is encompassed within all of Your attributes, we know You never make a mistake. What comfort! Help us to rest in Your wisdom, Your thoughts, Your ways. Please help us find Your healing and refreshment as we turn to You and away from the world’s wisdom, our always-wise Father.
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones (Prov. 3:7-8 ESV).
As we pray for this suffering to cease, please guide us with Your living and active Word. Please show us the way of Your wisdom, for our every moment.
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding (Prov. 3:13 ESV).
Her [wisdom’s] ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace (Prov. 3:17 ESV).
She [wisdom] is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her (Prov. 3:15 ESV).
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
As Your children, please give us Your wisdom to deal with today’s suffering
We don’t know how to cope with this. Each day feels impossibly hard. So, in our deep need, please teach us, giving us Your wise and peaceful insight as we turn to You with a rightful fear of reverence, awe, honor, and worship.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight (Prov. 9:10 ESV).
We no longer fear Your wrath or punishment, for our blessed Savior Jesus has absorbed all of it for us! Hallelujah! It’s in our risen Jesus Christ who is “the power…and wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24) that we can rest in and trust Your wisdom as Your beloved children, Lord.
In Your wise plan for redemption, by Your amazing grace, we…
are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30 ESV).
So, in Your indwelling Spirit’s sanctifying work, we seek Your wisdom on how to walk through this hard time, dealing with it Biblically. Help us trust Your precious wisdom, as our infinitely wise Father.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Prov. 3:5-6 ESV).
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
all praise we would render; O help us to see
’tis only the splendor of light hideth thee!
In the name of the One who is wisdom and gives us wisdom, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
Material adapted from Near to God: A Devotional Bible Study of God’s Character in Our Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle. Copyright © 2022, Singing Christ’s Hope.
A playlist to sing to our wise God, as we suffer
This week, I’ve created a YouTube playlist of lyrics we can sing-pray to our wise God. Through the songs, we pray for His wisdom as we revere Him. We rest quietly in our Lord’s wisdom as we praise His wisdom. We trust in His wisdom as we come to Him in our deep need. If it would bless you to sing of who God is, unchanging in His loving wisdom toward us as we walk through this hard time, just sign up below and it will come to your email. I’m praying God will bless you with His settled peace and wisdom as you sing these songs, just as He has been doing for me in my suffering.
To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen (Rom. 16:27 ESV).
