The words of Job's friends are earnest and learned attempts to apply balm to Job's heartache. They are spoken out of compassion for him in his suffering, and they are mostly rational and even spiritual explanations for what is going on his life. The problem is that they don't "fit" Job's situation, as Job knows it in the depths of his heart. "Yes, Yes, that's all very true in general," one can almost hear Job saying to his friends,"but it's not true in this situation." In fact, the words Job has to suffer from his friends make him hurt even more.
For example in Chapter 22, Eliphaz says,
Can a man be of benefit to God?
Can even a wise man benefit Him?
What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
What would He gain if your ways were blameless?.......
and then Eliphaz goes on to list Job's imputed sins, finally telling him to submit to God, to accept instruction, and to study Scripture --- and "to remove wickedness from [your] tent.....and then God will hear you." Although everything Eliphaz says is "true," not a single word of it is what Job needs to hear at the moment. None of it brings balm to the suffering of Job. Moreover, from Job's response, we find out that Eliphaz, friend though he is, does not really know Job's heart or his "sins."
Imagine giving this "wisdom" to someone whose children have died, as Job's have done! Every one of us needs to tread softly when speaking out of our own "wisdom" to someone who is suffering.
Job replies that mankind is able to mine the deepest earth for silver, gold, and sapphires, tunneling through rock so flinty that "no bird of prey knows that hidden path," but that he is not able to find wisdom: Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air....God understands the way to it, and He alone knows where it dwells. (28:20-23).
In the New Testament, we find a very similar passage in I Corinthians 2:
No eye has seen,
No ear has heard,
No mind has conceived
What God has prepared for those who love him---
But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.
I find it somewhat unfortunate that most people will quote this passage as a sort of incentive to get to heaven, where we will find things we cannot even imagine on earth. That reading, while certainly true, obliterates a much deeper and richer reading -- that God reveals to us even now the secret wisdom of His mind and heart. The end of that section reads simply, We have the mind of Christ.
Wisdom is the Sacrament of the Present Moment. What may certainly be true for someone else in their situation may not apply right now to ours. Wisdom is received directly from the mouth of God, and only He can speak it to our hearts, calming, reassuring, giving us peace and knowledge that we can use at the moment.
To be a disciple is to become a student -- one who enters fully into study and understanding of the Word of God -- not just the written word, but of the Divine Word as He is in Himself: to look with the heart, to understand with the mind, to choose with the will.
---to apply oneself wholly to seeking in prayer what one needs, not only for myself, but for what I need for others.
---to trust that as I dedicate the hour of study, the Living Christ will supply the wisdom and knowledge that only He can give.
---to know that I not only do not know, but that I also do not know how to begin.
---to be as my beginning students, utterly dependent upon the Teacher to open the Book at the appropriate place each day and to say, "Read this," "Do this," and then to await further instruction.
The aim is not to acquire knowledge in itself, but to become so intimate with the Teacher that His words live in me and speak through me. What I thought I understood yesterday may not be the word that I need to understand today: The Word of God is living and active, sharper and more powerful and than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow....
This passage from Hebrews refers to the Rhema, the living and spoken Word which enters our heart at the right moment, imparting the Wisdom that only God Himself can give us for today. It is not enough to know Scripture if we do not know God.
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