Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.

Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

OK, so I left out the address on these quotes. That isn’t the only thing I left out, as you will see later when I give you the address on these quotes.

Should is one of those words isn’t it? It indicates the promise of success and a warning of failure all at the same time. Should says if you don’t get it, something went wrong, something is missing for success.

That something is the verse planted between these two lines of scripture. Do you know them? Do they seem familiar? Is it Proverbs? Is it Psalms? Could it be Ecclesiastes? You know it isn’t Paul, you’ve read enough of Paul’s writings to know his style. There is a subtle hint, it isn’t NT. What is missing is the reason not all great men are wise and not all of age understand judgment.

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Did you get it? Did you remember it came from the book of Job? If you remember it was Job, do you also remember that it wasn’t Job who said it?

Job 32:6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.

If God were to inspire someone in your life to speak truth into it, that wasn’t your pastor, teacher, counselor or trusted friend, would you hear it?

Do you know the voice of truth when you hear it?

You should.

Genesis 13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

Go with God was a common blessing of departure. It isn’t in common use any longer. It isn’t in common practice either if you look to the results of choices made these days. Could I ask you what was at stake there in Genesis 13? What was it all about?

Lessons, if they are to be learned, must be seen down at the root of the situation. If you look back and say Abraham was chosen to follow God and not Lot, then why did God save Lot out of Sodom? So perhaps that isn’t the problem. Is the lesson in the relationships within the tribesmen? They fought over grasses for their flocks and no one came to make peace between the two. But Abraham did separate them to end the fighting, so is that fair to say either?

Perhaps the lesson is in the journey itself. I cannot help but see similarities between Abraham and Moses here. Both were going to a place God would show them. Both encountered hardship and dissatisfied sojourners, dissention in the ranks. One turned to God to be the answer to problems, the other allowed man to make his own choices.

With Moses God provided meager provisions but they lived and stayed together, they did not break the bond of unity. With Abraham man made his own choices. The bond of unity was broken because they did not believe God was big enough to solve their problems.

Families and churches suffer the same fate if left to their own devices.