ESOCS Devotional 10 November 2025 – It Belongs to God
MEMORY VERSE: “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.” Job 12:13
TEXT: JOB 12:13-35
“With Him are wisdom and strength,
He has counsel and understanding.
14 If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt;
If He imprisons a man, there can be no release.
15 If He withholds the waters, they dry up;
If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
16 With Him are strength and prudence.
The deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 He leads counselors away plundered,
And makes fools of the judges.
18 He loosens the bonds of kings,
And binds their waist with a belt.
19 He leads princes away plundered,
And overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes,
And disarms the mighty.
22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness,
And brings the shadow of death to light.
23 He makes nations great, and destroys them;
He enlarges nations, and guides them.
24 He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.
25 They grope in the dark without light,
And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
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Not with the ancient and long lived man, but with God, who has made the whole universe, and in whose hand and at whose disposal all creatures exist (Job 12:9, 10). With Him, wisdom is originally, essentially, and non-derivatively as the fountain and fullness of it. He is the only all wise God. His wisdom is displayed in creating the world, and all things in it, in the beautiful manner they are set, and in their subservience to each other; in all the dispensations of His providence, having all a “bathos”, a depth of wisdom and knowledge in them.
All is according to the counsel of His will; and in the work of redemption and salvation by Christ, in which He has abounded in all wisdom and prudence in finding out and appointing a Redeemer, mighty and strong, equal to the work; in contriving and bringing it about, in such a manner as to glorify all His perfections. Hence, the Gospel, which is the publication of this grace, is called the wisdom of God: and with Him is wisdom to communicate to His people, to direct them how to behave under every providence, in every station of life, in the church, and in the world (James 1:5).
He has “power and strength”, which He has shown in making the world out of nothing, in upholding it, and all things in it, in being, in executing His designs, decrees, and purposes; in fulfilling His promises, and in supporting and strengthening His people, under all their trials and exercises, to withstand every enemy, and perform every duty. Ancient men, though they may increase in wisdom, they decline in strength, but God has both, in infinite perfection: His decrees and purposes, wisely formed within Himself, are His counsels of old, and which are truly and punctually performed in time.
His plan of peace, reconciliation, and salvation by Christ, may, with propriety, be called the counsel of peace between them both. The Gospel, and the various doctrines of it are the whole counsel of God, and so are the ordinances of it. Besides these, by which He counsels and advises His people. He has counsel with Him, and which He gives unto them by His Spirit, for which they bless His name; and so even did Christ, as man and Mediator (Psalms 16:7). He has counsel to give, and does give in things temporal, relating to the common affairs of life, and in things concerning the good and welfare of immortal souls; all which comes from him who is “wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working” (Is. 28:29).
He has an “understanding” that is infinite and unsearchable; He has an understanding of Himself, His nature, perfections, and persons of all His creatures, and of all things past, present, and to come; the same things are said of Christ, the wisdom of God (Prov. 8:14). Job, having observed these things of God, passes on to discourse most admirably and excellently of the power and wisdom of God in various instances, especially in the dispensations of His providence, by which He appears to have known the secrets of wisdom, and not so ignorant as represented by Zophar.
CHALLENGES
- Who can comprehend the omniscient God? Who can be compared to Him?
PRAYER POINT
- God of wisdom, may I not step out any day without your counsel. Amen.
FURTHER READING: Job 14:1-22; 1 Timothy 6:11-21; 2 Timothy 1:1-End
ESOCS Devotional 10 November 2025
