But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man! (Job 11:12) Zophar, one of Job’s closest friends, says in most poetic fashion– “Job, you deserve worse than your predicament.” he says this to a man that lost it all– his children, wealth and his health. In fact, his wife had to sell her hair to food. That’s how dire the situation was for Job and his wife. They had nothing left, so it’s understandable why Job couldn’t see the bright side of things; why there was little to no reason for optimism. Let’s really get to the bottom line of what Zophar was saying — he was saying that God can do whatever He well feels like and would be justified in doing exactly that. He continues to say that if people would feel otherwise, then do something about it and tritely says, “oh yeah, you can’t, so God’s justified and you’re stupid if you think otherwise.” (Nice friend to have right?) Job didn’t understand why his tragedy was happening to him. There was no reason he could think of for a natural disaster to hit his entire family and for a band of thieves to murder and steal his possessions and his employees. I’m sure however; he isn’t the only one who felt like things that were happening in life were a senseless at best. Just think about your circumstances or your situation– doesn’t it almost always feel unfair? For some of us, our circumstances and situation may have been the root cause for leaving the church or ceasing to believe that God truly loves us. I totally get it. Job, totally understands it. He could have easily cursed God and died after everything he been through. But he doesn’t curse God, nor does he die. Zophar tells Job that “stupidity” is not accepting the situation as it is and then sulking over it. He says “stupid people” who cannot accept God for God and their situation as it is will never gain “understanding,” that is wisdom. He says that people who cannot let go of gripe from the situation and circumstances they face are as likely to find the bigger picture as a donkey being born into a person– in other words, “when hell freezes over.” If “stupidity” is not being able to accept God and the circumstances we are placed in by the will of God (assuming we believe God is sovereign), then we must try to be wise. Wisdom, as Zophar says it, is simply to let things go and not dwell on things that happened which we have no control over. He says to prepare our hearts to reach out to God because that is where we can look to find hope, to find security and to rest because you will be in the hands of a God who is in control. This is wisdom and that is how we are to view the circumstances and situation we are engulfed in. Be wise.