If I had all of the money, all of the knowledge, all of the experience of the world, the Bible says it still wouldn't compare to the riches I would have if I could just find wisdom. All this and more coming up right now on the Preview Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill.
I'm John Galantis. Thanks for joining us again for another great episode of the Clearview Today Show, right here in our studio with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. If you're listening to us for the very first time today, Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.
Dr. Shah, welcome. It's good to be here. Amen. It's good to see you.
Dr. Shah, one of my very favorite things happened on yesterday's episode. It's where we got so entrenched in a topic that we ran out of time. I genuinely have to continue it to the next day. I love when that happens because the conversation is so good.
I knew where the conversation was going, and I was so ready to move on to the next point. And then I was like, oh my 27 minutes. That is my favorite. That's one of the things, see, with a podcast, people, people ask all the time, like, why do you guys just like spend one or two episodes on like one topic or like three or four, five, six, seven, eight, nine episodes on one topic? And it's like, the reason is because we're not like a three-hour podcast.
Yeah. We can't just do it. We got a 30-minute window. That's it.
So, anyway, with all that said, Dr. Shah, welcome. Have a great day. Thank you. Couldn't do it without you guys.
Thank you for. Yeah. For today's show. Amen. Do you want to recap for our listeners and our viewers where we've been in this conversation?
We're walking through the book of Job and talking about these different dialogue cycles, and we come to chapter 28, and something unusual happens: instant question marks. Yes.
So The dialogue between Job and his friends has broken down in the third dialogue cycle. And so Job starts speaking from chapter 26 all the way to chapter 31. But in the middle, in chapter 28, it's like... It is like a different job. All of a sudden, he's talking about wisdom.
He's not talking about how bad his life is or how God has forgotten why are bad things happening to him. But he's like, wisdom. Let's talk about wisdom. Wisdom cannot be found by digging deep into the earth's surface. Wisdom cannot be found in the ocean.
Wisdom cannot be found. What are you talking about, Job? What are you talking about, man? What's going on with this guy? What's happening with this guy is that just like people who go through trauma, Suffering, they have good days and bad days.
This is one of Job's good days. It's such a humanizing thing for Job. I mean, we think about the characters in the Bible, especially Job, we sort of view him as like this, I guess, this aspect of humanity or this kind of ideal to strive toward. He's a real person. Yeah, he's got a real person.
He's a mythological hero. Yes.
But that's not true. Job was an actual man who actually lived and actually endured all of this trauma. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And And and he as he talks about mining, no nothing new under the sun. I mean, today people mine the same way. Of course, they have technology and they have computerized drills and all that stuff. But basically the same thing, going into the earth's surface, It is very risky, very dangerous.
and then they find what they're looking for. But Job's point is, you cannot find wisdom. Right. In the ground? You cannot find wisdom in the ocean, Neither can you buy it with as much money as you have.
Or not have money and feel like I'm poor. Still, that's not wisdom. You know, there are people in India where I grew up. Who are known as sadhus. Mm-hmm.
And these people They wander. They wander through the forest. They wander in the streets. And I would say, Ninety percent of them. I mean, I could probably move that number to like 99.
Are not good people. Really? No, no, no. You won't trust them. They're not good people.
What is the purpose behind their wandering? Oh, they've left their families. They've left their jobs. And then they do this to find themselves. Maybe it's this idea that we have in the West that anybody who's disenfranchised, anybody who is without, like, you don't have no money, you don't have no home.
You must be an inherently pure, good person. Yes.
Isn't it interesting that these people who have left everything to go find themselves, the self that they find is not a good person. Right, right. Yeah, because at the end of the day, kind of reaffirms what the Bible says. You've got all your money, all your possessions, you're still you. You're still you.
And you stink. That's right.
So. You know, wisdom is not found whether you have money or no money. It's something more. It's something else Job tells us, and this is starting in Job chapter 28 and verse 20. That wisdom is Much more than just knowledge and experience.
I feel like that's what a lot of people would say. I mean, you amass wisdom by the different things that you experience. It's knowledge that's applied. Yeah, most people, yes, I agree with you. I think a lot of people would say, Yeah, wisdom is more than just knowledge.
Wisdom is experience, the life I've lived. It's like, bro, what if you've failed at everything you've done? What if you've ruined every relationship you've ever made you wiser to keep failing over and over again? Right. Yeah, what if you don't learn your lesson?
Yeah. Well, let's read that, Job chapter 28 and verse 20. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. From where then does wisdom come, and where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. Destruction and death say we have heard a report about it with our ears. God understands its way and He knows its place.
For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heavens, to establish a weight for the wind, and apportion the waters by measure. When he made a law for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt, then he saw wisdom and declared it. He prepared it. Indeed, he searched it out.
Now. On the surface it seems like Very confusing. Is wisdom Nature's Law? You know, we know there is no such thing as nature's law, it's really God's law. But is that what God is saying here?
That I, you know, I know I can look to the ends of the earth and I see under the whole heavens.
So you're talking about the environment, the atmosphere. um the movement of the wind to establish a weight for the wind, that I can see the pattern. Is that what we're talking about? Or a portion of the waters by measure, h how how hydraulics work? When he made a law for the rain, how Rain works, how you know, water evaporates and turns into this condensation, then comes back in the form of water or snow or ice or whatever.
Is that what it's talking about? And a path for the thunderbolt? Then he saw wisdom and declared it So, is wisdom just understanding the laws of nature, the forces of nature? Is that what it is? And I would say, no, that's not what is being said here.
It what is being said here is Yes. the observable laws of nature, Are very important.
Sometimes primitive people did not understand that. There are primitive people even today. Unfortunately, there are countries that never had a chance to advance in science and technology. I'm not saying they're bad people, I'm not even saying they're inferior people. Because of a lack of Judeo-Christian foundation, and maybe even you can say, Uh uh you know a choice.
to not go in that direction. That they haven't been able to advance in science. And that happens, and it's true. But I don't believe that's what Job is saying here: that if you understand the laws of nature, then you have wisdom. Yeah.
He is saying. Yeah. There are people who are very primitive. Then there are people who can understand Signs And technology, for those of us who are living in 2026, science and technology. But wisdom goes beyond that.
That's right.
Wisdom is much more than just Newton and Einstein and, you know, some scientist. Doing his experiments in a lab and creating a formula. or coming up with a theorem. It's much, much more than that. Yeah, because how many scientists out there, even today, are such brilliant minds, but can't manage their personal lives, can't manage their finances, can't manage the funding for those same labs.
Yeah, or the relationship. Yeah. Their wreck.
So is is wisdom simply law of nature? No.
So, what is wisdom? It says right here: then he saw wisdom. means there was something more. Then he saw wisdom. Means he saw the laws of nature, which is really God's law, right?
Or God's laws. But then he saw wisdom, which is much more than just observable Laws of nature, and he declared it. means behind wisdom. Is God. Is his declaration, his voice?
That's right.
He prepared it. Laws of nature existed because what? God made the heavens and the earth. But wisdom is something he prepared. Indeed, he searched it out.
Something he's very active in involved. God is God is involved in the Definition of the very source of wisdom. It's not something we can look to the world for. It's not something we find. It's not something we happen upon or stumble upon.
It's found in God. You know, you were showing us earlier these videos of the caves that you, that you, like, not the caves you grew up in, but caves in the state that you grew up in. Right. These adjuncta caves and how intricately they are, and how knowledge, knowledgeable these ancient people must have been to be able to do this at a mountain. Yeah.
Yeah. Carve, carve into the side of a mountain this breathtaking scenery. I mean, elaborate columns and artwork and statues that are carved coming from. My luck is like one chisel, and it's like, well, we got to abandon this cave. It's like squidward.
It's like squidward when you hit it and it just collapses. It's not like, oh, we'll just get another slab of marble. It's like, this is what we're operating with. If you make a mistake, That's it. We're in trouble.
But imagine, but people see that and they go, wow, whoever did this, whoever was able to do this, they must have been so wise. Yeah, where are those monks today? Where are those ancient Indians today? They're not in heaven, they're not in God's presence. That's right.
So it's not. It's not that they had wisdom. Right. What they had was knowledge. They had a form of science.
Now, science today and science back then is different. Right. So when people think when I say things like Science found its foundation in our world of enlightenment in the past five, six hundred years. Science was stillborn. You know what a stillborn is like a baby that's born, but it has no life.
Science was still born for. Thousands of years. Until Christianity came into the West, now people were not afraid of nature. They were able to harness the power of nature and use it for their benefit. He said, Well, wait a minute.
How about the pyramids? How about the hanging gardens of Babylon? How about some of the other things that ancients built? Did they not have medicine? Because they knew how to cure people.
They knew how to navigate. On the seas? Yeah, I they did. People back then were not just dummies or cavemen. You know, the ES understood all that.
But the way we have used science in the past 400, 500 years. has never happened in the history of the world. It is so pervasive. Our lives would cease to exist if we did not have scientific. Knowledge like we do today.
Right. I mean, this program would be over. And if, but, but you think about like, if, if, If that's true, if all that's true, and we are the most technologically advanced, you would think we'd be the wisest people of all. And we're not. Yeah, if they were so correlated, you would think we'd be the wisest people who ever lived.
To the contrary, we're probably some of the dumbest. I was going to say, you should look on TikTok and see that is not the case. Wisdom is probably more scarce today than it has been. Yeah, look at the streets of America right now, especially in Minnesota. That's not wisdom, folks.
I don't know what y'all are doing out there. Yeah. That's foolishness. Foolishness. Law officers are doing their job, arresting people who are criminals, doing their job, which was done in previous administrations to take people and send them back because of illegal status, especially those who are criminals.
And people are out there in the streets fighting with them. And doing crazy things. I mean, I we're not wise. Right. Yeah.
We're being foolish. That's right.
So, going back to Job here, wisdom is much more than knowledge, experience, science, and technology. Let me differentiate here between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge can save a life or take a life. Wisdom tells us that life is precious. That's a great point.
Okay. A GPS can take us where we need to go. I mean, I remember the time before GPS when we had those big Atlas maps, you know, um, from Walmart and you s keep them in in under your seat or between your seat and your console. And try to find the streets and find the highways and find the side roads. But now just put in the address.
Go. And you don't have to worry about it. It takes you straight to it. World. I mean, it's a different world.
But it. GPS cannot tell us which is better. Going to a church? Or going to a bar. That's right.
Yeah. It's not going to give you that advice, like, hey, maybe you don't want to do that. This is a destination, and that's also a destination. The internet is a great tool, but it cannot take me to a live stream. Or we can take me to a live stream or to a pornographic site.
And people do that. Very educated, very smart, very successful people. They choose evil. Rather than choosing good.
So experience can tell us. Also, something is painful or something feels good. Childbirth is painful, but that doesn't make it evil. Getting drunk feels good in the moment. But it doesn't make it good.
I mean, it's so, it is more complex. Wisdom is so much more than just knowledge or even experience. That's right.
That's right.
I think about when you said that first one, like it can tell us how to save a life or how to take a life. Like, I think about all the surgeons that have ever existed. And, like, in no, yeah, like, you're going to take the Hippocratic Oath, but there's no textbook that's going to tell you, hey, you have to take this serious. Life is so precious. Right.
Life is made in the image of God. You know what I mean? Yeah, and at one time, physicians did. People coming out of medical school understood that. But because we have gotten further away from biblical values.
from Christian values, That now the same doctors will sit there and tell you why they're okay with abortion and it's a woman's right to choose and blah, blah, blah. And you're thinking, You understand life so much more than I do. You see the complexity of the human body. You can see that child inside the womb, and yet you're saying, It's your right to take that life. Wow.
There are doctors all over America today giving little kids puberty blockers.
So they won't. I don't get it.
So they won't become an adult version of what they actually are. Who understand the human body and anatomy infinitely more than I ever will? But I can look at that and say, hey, that's not right. Yeah, it's even more sadistic if you think about it because, like, I know what a puberty blocker is supposed to do, right? It stops a little girl or a little boy from growing up and hitting puberty so they can live out this delusion of being the opposite sex.
They know how it works intricately. Right. And still, they're like, yeah, this is what I'm going to do. Yeah, I mean, you see that in the Senate hearing, bringing in a medical expert, and the senator is questioning. And of course, the senator is coming from a conservative viewpoint and say, define for me what is a man, define for me what is a woman.
Senator, I feel like that's a loaded question. Ma'am, all I'm asking is, tell me. What is a woman? I really think the question is phrased harmfully, and I think. No, you have an ulterior motive.
You should not be in that position. I will not trust you. If you were the doctor, I would be very scared to go to you for help. Yeah, if you are waffling on that question, you shouldn't be practicing medicine. I mean, no matter where the issues fall, at least say, Okay, what is a woman?
Are you talking to me about anatomically?
Okay, this is what a woman at least do that. Yeah, yeah. But that person that and I remember there's a video out there right now that just came out a couple of weeks ago. This female medical expert refusing to tell you. And the and the senator kept saying Yeah.
I don't know what else to say to you. Yeah. Can you tell? And she did not want to admit. I like the way that you phrase that because it is a refusal.
It isn't. Because we love to post the captions like: medical expert can't tell us, don't know. They know very well. Of course, of course. They know very well.
But there's such a depreciation of wisdom in these fields of knowledge and science and matter. Yeah. That. You know, this is the place we're at.
So, in the time that we have left, Dr. Shah, where can we find wisdom? No, Job tells us. In Job chapter 28 and verse 28, he says, And to man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding, fear of the Lord.
Fear of the Lord is not the fright of God. Fear of the Lord is knowing who God is. We need to rewrite what we think about that word fear. When the Bible says that in the book of Proverbs many times, and then right here in Job, fear of the Lord, fear of the Lord. We think.
To be afraid of God is wisdom. Hey, God's, you know, God can hurt you, man. God is so much bigger than you, God is in control. All that is true. But in the context when it talks about the fear of the Lord It's like I understand who he is.
I know him. And I know how powerful he is And how Wonderful he is. and how incredibly Bigger and wiser and more caring, he is. That is what is implied in the fear of the Lord. I'm afraid of him.
It has a relational aspect to it. God is Not only powerful, but he is. He alone has created everything. And He is holy. He requires a certain standard from us.
That's all part of that fear. He wants to have a relationship with me, and that relationship is made through the coming of His Son into this world. Before Jesus came, people were waiting for the coming. and the relationship was contingent on one day he will come.
So I'm trusting him. Who is coming? Since Jesus came 2,000 years ago, we look back. It's no longer contingent. It's more of an affirmation.
He came. And my relationship with God is built, is founded upon Jesus. making it right between me and God. There's that relational aspect.
So, all that to say, a life of wisdom is a relationship with God. A relationship of trust and obedience. is what it means. Fear of the Lord. Shunning evil is If I like him so much and if I'm connected to him so much, I don't want to do anything that will disappoint him.
And what disappoints him? Evil. What does he shun? What does he hate? Evil, sin.
So, I am not going to go in that direction because it's going to hurt him. It's like our spouses. You know, there are certain things you can do that will really hurt them. And maybe we've crossed the line at times. in our words and our actions?
But we know when we do that, it's like, man, yeah, I'm sorry. I should have said that, I shouldn't have done that.
So, also with God, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Depart from evil is understanding. Because there's a relationship with God, we don't wanna do anything that will hurt us. hurt him. And when I say hurt him, I'm not saying that it's going to hurt him like We hurt our loved ones.
Right, right. But hurt him in the sense of Disappointing him, hurt him in the sense of bringing any kind of a rift in our relationship with him. We want him to love us and we want to love him and be in perfect fellowship. That's wisdom.
So, wisdom. Is relationship with God. And I said this in the message and And I want to say it here too. Wisdom It's not just a principle. Although you find many principles in the book of Proverbs, in the book of Job you find principle upon principle, wisdom is is not just an idea.
It's not just some truth statement. Wisdom is a person. That's right.
You know, the Bible. And I'm talking about the New Testament right now. It talks about. Jesus in a way that the Old Testament talked about wisdom. Because they're one and the same.
So if you want to read a couple of verses, let's do that. Like you take Ryan, if you want to take John chapter one and John, if you want to take Colossians one and then back and forth. And I think that will help our listeners, our viewers understand That's what we're saying here today, and what Job was saying 4,000 years ago was not like go get wisdom. You cannot dig enough, you cannot go deep enough, you cannot buy it, it's not experience, it's not no. No, what he was saying is it's a person because Job himself talks about that person.
He talks about I need a mediator. I need someone who can touch me and touch God. And who is the mediator? Jesus. Yes.
That's right.
I see my Redeemer. At last, he will stand on the earth. And we know who will stand at last on the earth. That's. Jesus.
So Job We're not superimposing our ideas and our theology on top of the book of Job. This is it. Right. This is really what Job had on his mind. Job, when he's talking about wisdom, he's talking about Jesus.
who is still to come for Job. But he has come for us. That's right.
So let's read a couple of those passages. I think it's going to be very helpful for our listeners. Absolutely. This is John chapter 1, starting in verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. That's powerful.
Mm-hmm. Because the Bible in the Old Testament talks about wisdom was with God. Yes.
Yes.
It's with wisdom that God made.
So, what John the apostle is saying to us is that wisdom? Was not just like God had knowledge. Because we know. Wisdom is more than knowledge. That wisdom was the Son of God.
That's right.
And it's the same with his other attributes, too. We tend to think that God is loving, God is just. No, no, no. God is justice. He is love.
Jesus is. We derive those from him. Right. It isn't that Jesus was wise, Jesus is wisdom. Yeah, yeah.
And that Jesus was just. No, Jesus is the Lord of justice. That's exactly right. That's right.
Colossians 1.15 says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. Wow, well, you cannot be clearer than that.
That pretty much hits the nail on the head. That's right.
The Apostle Paul, I mean, he lays it out so clearly, so simply. You know, don't think that Jesus just dropped out of the heavens 2,000 years ago. Here is Jesus. What do we do with him? Let's go back to the Old Testament, find prophecies, and see if we can line them up like Bethlehem and like Nazareth.
No, no, no. He was with God when the creation was made, and in him all things consist. All right, one more. Colossians chapter 2, verse 3. in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So, find me the smartest person you know. Maybe he's a person at your work, maybe it's a scientist that you admire. Maybe it's somebody else that you think is so smart.
Well, Jesus. Has all wisdom and knowledge. Can you imagine that Jesus already knew E equals M C square? He already knew that. He already knew the the you know all the theorems in physics.
He already knows all the formulas. I remember when I took chemistry back in college and had to balance these equations. That's rough. Oh my goodness. I was like, This is crazy.
How do people do this? Yeah, exactly. How are you supposed to remember all this stuff? Yeah, I had a friend whose sister was a. PhD in chemistry.
Wow. And I mean I was like. How does she like that kind of stuff? Like, she's very good with it. Like, I did chemistry in college.
And that was enough for me. Bro, I wouldn't even I barely got through high school giving and she did her PhD, like formula upon formula on the on the ball. Guess what? Jesus knows all of that. He knows exactly how to balance every one of those equations.
That's right.
That's crazy. All right, one more. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 22. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Here's a point I hope you will keep with you if you need wisdom in your life. in your family, with your children, in your marriage. in your workplace, in your church, in our nation right now. Jesus is wisdom incarnated.
Amen. Jesus is wisdom personified. He is the order behind the order. In fact, Order is his order. It's not like Jesus has to be informed by the order.
It is His order. He is the mastermind behind all of that. Wherever you need wisdom, what you really need is Jesus. Amen. That's what Job was saying.
Amen. That's right.
That's awesome. I pray that that rings true for you if you're sitting in the eye of your storm in your life today. If you've hit this sudden clarity, look to Jesus, who is the wisdom of God. That's right.
Thanks for joining us on today's episode. Make sure you tune in next time. We're going to dig further into this topic of Job and how he's processing trauma and how we can learn from that. Make sure you share this podcast with your friends and with your family. You can do that on any one of our podcasting platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pray.com, TBN Plus, Truth Network.
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