24Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb,

“I, the Lord, am the maker of all things,

Stretching out the heavens by Myself

And spreading out the earth all alone,

25Causing the omens of boasters to fail,

Making fools out of diviners,

Causing wise men to draw back

And turning their knowledge into foolishness,

26Confirming the word of His servant

And performing the purpose of His messengers.

It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’

And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’

And I will raise up her ruins again.

27It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’

And I will make your rivers dry.

28It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd!

And he will perform all My desire.’

And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’

And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’ ”

5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

1) How does Isaiah show יהוה’s power over false wisdom?

2) How does James promise wisdom to those who ask in faith?

3) Where do you most need יהוה’s wisdom today?

PSALM 74

An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.

A Maskil of Asaph.

1O God, why have You rejected us forever?

Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

2Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,

Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;

And this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

3Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins;

The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.

4Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;

They have set up their own standards for signs.

5It seems as if one had lifted up

His axe in a forest of trees.

6And now all its carved work

They smash with hatchet and hammers.

7They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;

They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name.

8They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”

They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9We do not see our signs;

There is no longer any prophet,

Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

10How long, O God, will the adversary revile,

And the enemy spurn Your name forever?

11Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?

From within Your bosom, destroy them!

12Yet God is my king from of old,

Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.

13You divided the sea by Your strength;

You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15You broke open springs and torrents;

You dried up ever-flowing streams.

16Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;

You have prepared the light and the sun.

17You have established all the boundaries of the earth;

You have made summer and winter.

18Remember this, O Lord, that the enemy has reviled,

And a foolish people has spurned Your name.

19Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast;

Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

20Consider the covenant;

For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21Let not the oppressed return dishonored;

Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.

22Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause;

Remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day long.

23Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries,

The uproar of those who rise against You which ascends continually.

24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble

And dry grass collapses into the flame,

So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;

For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts

And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,

And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.

And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.

For all this His anger is not spent,

But His hand is still stretched out.

26He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation,

And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;

And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

27No one in it is weary or stumbles,

None slumbers or sleeps;

Nor is the belt at its waist undone,

Nor its sandal strap broken.

28Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;

The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

29Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;

It growls as it seizes the prey

And carries it off with no one to deliver it.

30And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.

If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;

Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

Work Is Ridiculed

1Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. 2He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?” 3Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

4Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. 5Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders.

6So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

7Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. 8All of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it.

Discouragement Overcome

9But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night.

10Thus in Judah it was said,

“The strength of the burden bearers is failing,

Yet there is much rubbish;

And we ourselves are unable

To rebuild the wall.”

11Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work.” 12When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,” 13then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows. 14When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.”

15When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. 16From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. 17Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. 18As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me. 19I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. 20At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

21So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. 22At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.” 23So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water.