"For he message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent" - 1 Cor 1:18-19 (NIV).
Everyone of us wants to be known as intelligent but what if that becomes a problem! One area is where based on our intelligence we think we have figured it out all, as far as creation and God is concerned, and then we go further to persuade those we find of our understanding of creation, as intelligent people.
One of the worst mistake any intelligent person may trap himself in is to imagine that his intellect has the power to understand all things. For instance, when it comes to the universe and it's creation the truth is our intellect is limited to totally comprehend everything. Even for those who take to Big Bhang theory, which argues that 1.3 billion years ago there was a collision of moving gases sparking off the universe, they can't figure out what existed before. But then they just can't humble themselves to acknowledge that their logic can't provide all answers.
Our intellect can become a point of pride with us more concerned with defending our position. The things of God tend to be foolish to the intelligent people because they think they must logically figure out everything. There are certain things which God has left to Himself and however much we scratch ourselves we will not get anywhere close, till He wills. This is where faith helps us!
When our intellect fails to recognise that our knowledge can be limited, it then leads to scoffing. But to the wise having acknowledged their limitation the word of God has an answer. "Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others?...The Lord, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says: I am the one who made the earth and created human beings to live there. By my power I stretched out the heavens; I control the sun, the moon, and the stars"! (Isaiah 45: 9- 12).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, humility is the key to knowing you and today I humble myself and accept my inadequacy that you may fill me more with the truth of who you are, this I pray in Jesus name.
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
