Humans are incredibly talented at extracting value from the earth. We have mastered the art of digging deep into the darkness to find what is hidden.
Job 28 describes this perfectly, we cut channels through rocks, we dam up rivers to find gold, and we overturn mountains by the roots to get at the precious things.
We have mastered the problem of extracting value from the “below,” but we are failing miserably at extracting wisdom from “above.”
We can find silver, gold, and iron, but as Job asks, “Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?” (Job 28:12).
True riches don’t come from what we can pull out of the dirt; they come from what we receive from God.
Job 28 starts by acknowledging human ingenuity. We know how to find the “vein for the silver” and the place where gold is refined.
Job 28:5, 9-11, “As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire… He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.”
Think about that. We can move mountains and stop floods to get what we want. We have the technology to extract every bit of physical value the earth holds. But Job’s point is that you can mine every ounce of gold on the planet and still be a fool. You can be a billionaire in earthly currency and a bankrupt soul in the eyes of God. Human ingenuity can find a diamond, but it cannot find a moral compass.
The reason the world has such a different value system is that they are looking in the wrong direction. They are looking down at the “below” while we are looking up at the “above.”
Paul explains this disconnect clearly:
1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The “natural man” is like a miner who has all the best equipment but is digging in a salt mine expecting to find spiritual life. It’s not there. Wisdom isn’t something you “discover” through objective reasoning or subjective experience; it is something God grants to those who fear Him.
If you want to know if the “wisdom” you are following is from the earth or from God, James gives us the checklist. Earthly wisdom is often about “me first,” but God’s wisdom has a different signature.
James 3:17, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”
This is the “gold” we should be mining for. This is what true riches look like in a home, in a church, and in our personal lives. It starts with the foundation Job gave us:
Job 28:28, “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”
When you build on God’s wisdom, it changes how you walk. Micah shows us what a man looks like when he has successfully extracted wisdom from God:
Micah 6:8, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
Jesus summed up the entire Law and the Prophets with two commands that require this exact wisdom:
Matthew 22:37-40, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
We have spent enough time and energy mining the earth for things that will eventually burn up. It is time we start mining for wisdom. True riches are not found in the “value” we can extract from the world, but in the “wisdom” we receive when we walk humbly with our God. Acting justly and loving mercy aren’t “natural” behaviors, they are the fruits of a man who has found the source that the world can’t see.
