Job 35:16  “So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words.” (NIV)

Job 33:4  “Be assured that my words are not false; one who has perfect knowledge is with you.” (NIV)

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It’s worth reminding ourselves of an old saying: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

Even if you are the smartest person in the room, the smartest thing you can do is to help others become smarter than they are. It’s smart to help people develop the tools of intelligence. It’s smart to be a bearer of knowledge and wisdom and a distributor who freely gives and does so with kindness and gentleness. 

Elihu did not behave in this way. Elihu was a jerk. By the way, the club called “Jerks for Jesus” is not sanctioned by heaven. 

Give people the gift of curiosity. Remain interested in who they are and why they do what they do. Ask at least one more discovery question. Until we get to the root of who they are, we will never understand why they do what they do. 

I met a woman named Candace earlier this week. I told her that I’ve always loved that name. She told me that she did not. I asked her what it means, and she didn’t know. She proceeded to tell me about her five daughters, the youngest of which is named Aviana. Her name means “fragile little bird.” 

This little girl has a physical issue that, from a medical perspective, would label her somewhat fragile. She is also the most athletic and outgoing of those five daughters. She doesn’t sit around pondering her existence. She lives life at full speed. 

Can you imagine what it’s like to be the mom of five girls? Can you imagine living in that house day by day? Candace means Queen. No doubt she is the queen of that house. No doubt she is quite capable of reminding the girls how they should behave toward her, toward one another, and toward those outside their home. 

My grandmother on my mom’s side had five daughters. Her husband passed away when three of those girls were teenagers. The other two were newlyweds. There are a whole lot of stories I’ve heard about what life was like in that home. The one thing nobody doubted was who was in charge. 

One of those daughters had something of an adventurous streak in her. She has lived on this earth for over eighty years now, and she still has an adventurous streak. 

One day, this adventuresome young girl climbed up a tree and began crying for her sisters to go ask her mother to call the fire department to come get her out of the tree. She really just wanted the fire truck to come, sirens and lights declaring their urgency.

Queen Mom came to rescue her child with a handful of rocks. Her adventurous daughter got down the old hard way. No fireman was going to rescue her from Mom’s wrath. 

Think that mom was somewhat abusive? Think again. That daughter still loves telling that story today. So do her sisters. 

That mom was largely uneducated by today’s standards, but she was truly wise and wonderful. She freely passed along her wisdom to anyone who needed it. Remind me to tell you again sometime how she ended up with my dime. 

Who will you help today become smarter by bedtime than they were when they got up? Job 35:16  “So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; 
without knowledge he multiplies words.”

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I will remain curious a little bit longer and freely invest my attention in helping others grow wiser. 

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Our Father, thank you for the gifts of knowledge and wisdom. Grow us in these graces. Teach us. Deliver us from the temptation to think we’re smarter than we are. Empower us to help others grow in knowledge, wisdom, and their practical application. Amen.