insight – The Noontimes

Job 28: The Hope of God’s Wisdom

Job 28: The Hope of God’s Wisdom

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

God says: You have asked me this question many times and I delight in your curiosity. It gladdens my heart when I hear you ask for clarity. I praise you for your persistence, courage, and desire for authenticity. Hear now the voice of my servant Job.

Job says: But where, oh where, will [mortals] find Wisdom?
Where does Insight hide?
Mortals don’t have a clue,
haven’t the slightest idea where to look.

God says: Job knows that the search for wisdom tempts some to lose hope, others to argue over meaning, and still others to divide the faithful. When your search finds you creating sides and assigning blame, think about the origin of your emotions. Do they come from fear or from compassion? A willfulness to control or a willingness to collaborate?

Job says: So where does Wisdom come from?
    And where does Insight live?
It can’t be found by looking, no matter
    how deep you dig, no matter how high you fly.
If you search through the graveyard and question the dead,
    they say, ‘We’ve only heard rumors of it.

God says: Listen to the words of Job. He suffered great physical pain yet remained in me. His friends and family offered well-meaning advice based on confusion, still he relied on me. Job’s search for understanding and wisdom bring him directly to me.

Job says: God alone knows the way to Wisdom,
God knows the exact place to find it.

God asks: Are you willing to listen to the knowledge Job gains about the path to wisdom?

Job says: Here it is!
Fear-of-the-Lord—that’s Wisdom,
and Insight means shunning evil.

God says: Come to me when burdens weigh you down. Rely on me when anger and anxiety take hold of you. Remain in me when revenge and fear push and pull you in the way of foolishness. Always rely on me.

Job’s search is long and arduous. The wisdom he finds is precious and pure. The lesson he teaches us may be difficult to take in, but it is reliable, full, and positive. Let us step into the hope of God’s wisdom today.

Tomorrow, thirsting for wisdom.

Image from: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/652810908524409289/

August 12, 2025

insight, Job, seeking Wisdom, understanding

Proverbs 2:1-5: My Child

Proverbs 2:1-5: My Child

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

I have always liked the simple wisdom of Proverbs for Lady Wisdom has much to teach us.

My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do. Listen to what is wise and try to understand it. Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight. Look for it as hard as you would for silver or some hidden treasure. If you do, you will know what it means to fear the Lord and you will succeed in learning about God. (GNT)

As a child, I never understood why we were to fear God. As I grew, I came to recognize fear as a sense of awe. As an adult, the verses of Proverbs bring God’s overwhelming love to our hearts.

Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
    collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom;
    set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,
    and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
    like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;
    you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God. (MSG)

Friends offer words of advice, Wisdom found close to home and near to the heart. I take in the wisdom my own friends offer. And as a friend to others, I search for counsel in this practical, and often humorous, book of instruction.

My son, if you will receive my words
and store my commands inside you,
paying attention to wisdom
inclining your mind toward understanding —
yes, if you will call for insight
and raise your voice for discernment,
if you seek it as you would silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure —
then you will understand the fear of Adonai
and find knowledge of God. (CJB)

Ancient words are frequently apt, gathering past and future into a fruitful present when we share them with our children. Old axioms bring pearls of wisdom, offering respite in the storm, refuge in combat.

Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
    collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom;
    set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,
    and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
    like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;
    you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God. (MSG)

Wisdom, Understanding, Insight. These are the gems we unearth when we spend time with these sayings. Searching, prospecting, seeking. These are the actions we take as children of God. Counsels, gold, gems. These are the treasures we unearth when we answer the call of Christ. Beseeching, learning, healing. This is the transformation we experience when we rest in the Spirit of the Lord.

My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you . . .

When we compare translations of these verses, we find safety in the Lord’s awesome love. We find refuge as children of God.

Image from: https://www.ppic.org/event/reducing-child-poverty-california/child-adult-holding-hands/

August 5, 2025

God’s love, insight, seeking, understanding, wisdom

Proverbs 8: Armloads of Life

Proverbs 8: Armloads of Life

Sunday, July 14, 20124

Wisdom and Creation, A Reprise

Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling?
    Can you hear Madame Insight raising her voice?
She’s taken her stand at First and Main,
    at the busiest intersection.
Right in the city square
    where the traffic is thickest, she shouts,
“You—I’m talking to all of you,
    everyone out here on the streets!
Listen, you idiots—learn good sense!
    You blockheads—shape up!
Don’t miss a word of this—I’m telling you how to live well,
    I’m telling you how to live at your best.

We have visited this chapter of Proverbs before, and today we look at it again with fresh eyes as we consider . . . the gift of creation in each of us, and in the micro and macro-universe we inhabit. Today we reprise our reflection on the wisdom of God’s creation as we consider again the mystery of God’s love for us.

I am both Insight and the Virtue to live it out.

These words are an invitation we will want to accept.

My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary;
    the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.
You can find me on Righteous Road—that’s where I walk—
    at the intersection of Justice Avenue,
Handing out life to those who love me,
    filling their arms with life—armloads of life!

The verses cited in this post are from the MESSAGE translation of Proverbs. To compare other translations, use the scripture link and the drop-down menus.

To watch life on a reef off the Maldives, click on the sea life image or visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oGyZL0qjM

For an interesting take on the multiverse, click on the image of planets above, or visit: http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/columns/just-a-theory/living-your-life-in-a-multiverse/

For the reflection on Wisdom and Creation. enter those words into the blog search bar and explore.

Other images from http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/columns/just-a-theory/living-your-life-in-a-multiverse/ and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/574631233677117868/

July 14, 2024

creation, insight, wisdom

Psalm 119:97-104: Mem

Friday, January 29, 2021

Psalm 119:97-104

Mem

Your command makes me wiser than my foes, for it is always with me . . . I have more understanding than all my teachers, because I ponder your decrees . . . I have more insight than my elders, because I observe your precepts . . . From your edicts I do not turn, for you have taught them to me . . . How sweet to my tongue is your promise . . . through your precepts I gain insight.

God’s commands, decrees, precepts and edicts are often seen as roadblocks because they are too often presented to us by those who think in an either-or, black-white, dual way. In reality God’s law is the Law of Love bringing us wisdom, understanding, insight, sweetness and promise.

God says: If you worship with others who see me full of wrath and revenge, remember that they and I are in a conversation in which I am bringing them to my Law of Love. If you worship with others who see me as a passive force of kindness only, have patience with them as well and remember that they are afraid to see the injustices that surround them. If you find yourself impatient with my plan and its timing, remember that you and I are also in conversation and that you see only a small portion of the universe. In the end, I make my promise to each of you, I live in union with all of you even when you turn away. Remember that I love you dearly and well. Remember my promise to you. Remember . . .

How do we struggle against our foes? How do we gain wisdom greater than our teachers and insights greater than our elders? How do we taste the sweetness of God’s promise? We rest in God daily, turn to God in every hour, live in God each moment. We read and ponder God’s Word, reflect and meditate on God’s message, enact and carry out God’s Law of Love.

The Lord’s Law of Love is pure, enduring forever. The statutes of the law are true; all of them just; more desirable than gold, sweeter also than honey or drippings from the comb. (Psalm 19:10-11)

Tomorrow, Nun.

To learn more about the letter Mem as a fountain of wisdom, go to: http://www.inner.org/hebleter/mem.htm

January 29, 2021

insight, Law of Love, promise, Psalm 19:10-11, sweetness, understanding, wisdom

Tag: insight

Job 28: The Hope of God’s Wisdom

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Proverbs 2:1-5: My Child

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Proverbs 8: Armloads of Life

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Psalm 119:97-104: Mem

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