Where is wisdom?

Has a kid ever put you on the spot with a question you find difficult to answer? 

I know I’ve been there—tongue-tied and fumbling my words, trying desperately to say something accurate, yet on their level. I’m a dad to four and I work as a pediatrician. I’m around kids all day, every day, and they don’t hesitate to throw out the really hard questions. 

That’s one of the main reasons I decided to write a book for children and their parents on the book of Job. I know; when you think of Job, you don’t immediately consider it a children’s story, and true, most people regard Job as a sad, depressing, long, and intimidating book. 

It is filled with Job’s relentless, impassioned, heart-felt questions for God, though, and that’s why I love it. I’m drawn to the challenges it presents. Job’s questions and my kids’ questions today aren’t all that different. My kids are always asking me deep questions that I rarely feel qualified to answer. 

The Idea for Where is Wisdom?

One Sunday a few years back, our pastor preached through Job 28, and it set my imagination ablaze! My mind was filled with scenes of ingenuity and endeavor, people searching high and low throughout the wonders of God’s creation, thinking the treasures themselves would bring satisfaction. 

But Job points out that we were made for so much more, that there’s a greater treasure to be found in God and the wisdom he provides. That seemed so relatable to me, and such a helpful way to show kids the beauty of God’s plan for our lives. After talking through it with my kids during family worship, I wrote this story for them in the hopes that it would point them to the one in whom true wisdom is found. 

“Hidden” Treasure in Job 28

Where Is Wisdom? is based on Job chapter 28, where a wonderful surprise lives. There’s a beautiful poem in the middle of Job! The heading in my Bible calls it “A Hymn to Wisdom.” 

After all these heavy conversations with his friends about the nature of God and man and sin, Job breaks into these verses full of colorful imagery—all of a sudden we’re digging with miners, cultivating food from the earth, prowling with lions and calling down into the deep. He’s not dodging the conversation, he’s helping his friends see that God is at the heart of everything, and that our role is not to figure everything out on our own but to trust in him and obey his word. 

What I love about Job 28 is that it so clearly contrasts man’s pursuit of what we think we need versus God’s gift of what we truly need. We can hunt for treasure all throughout the wonders of God’s creation, but in the end the one thing we need is a right relationship with him. That’s what true wisdom brings—a heart-felt desire to trust and obey our Lord. Or, as the book describes it, “to want nothing more than to love and live for Him.”

How Parents Can Use this Book

Parents, reading Job with your kids will give you a picture of a man who asked honest questions and trusted God’s answers, no matter what. 

That’s a beautiful model for us to follow as we seek to lead our children to Christ and deepen their love for His Word. Get your copy today along with some cool downloadable graphics and poster!