It is ‘FOOLISHNESS’ not to know God ‘PERSONALLY’!
August 8 Bible Reading: Jeremiah Chapters 4-6
It is ‘FOOLISHNESS’ not to know God ‘PERSONALLY’!
"For
My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and
they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have
no knowledge." (Jer. 4:22)
In the midst of speaking to His people through prophet
Jeremiah, God makes a critical assessment about His own people who have not
known God. It is that they are foolish as they have not known God personally.
They are equated to silly immature children who lack understanding and
maturity. In fact ‘foolishness’
describe the character of the people. The terms foolish and silly are
contrary to the terms knowledge and understanding. God described His people
as impudent children. They were wise in the ways of evil, but
totally deficient in knowing how to do good!
When prophet Isaiah started penning his prophecies, this is
how he started: "The ox knows its
owner and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people do
not consider." (Isaiah 1:3) Prophet Isaiah took as examples a couple
of animals that were not known for knowledge and understanding – an ox and a
donkey. However, even though these ‘dumb’
animals were aware of their owner and their dwelling place, the so-called wise
people of Israel did not consider God in their equation.
In fact, the prophet Hosea was more critical of the people of Israel as he berated them for
lacking the knowledge of God: Hear the word
of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the
inhabitants of the land: "There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God
in the land." (Hosea 4:1) Due to this assessment, God said the
following words of warning: "My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected
knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have
forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."
(Hosea 4:6)
In Psalms 14:1 and Psalms 53:1, it is clearly written that
the fool thinks in his heart: “there is
no God”. He does not want there to be a God, therefore he denies the
existence of God. It is an irrational position to take. First of all, it is a
claim to omniscience; it says, “I know everything. It is not possible that
a God could exist beyond the boundaries of my knowledge.” Second, this
attitude claims omnipresence; it
says, “It is not possible that God can
exist any place in the universe without my knowing it.” Third, this position ignores the wonders of God in creation—the immensity of the
universe, the amazingly precise movement of the planets, the marvelous
suitability of the earth to sustain life, the intricate design of the human
body, the fantastic complexity of the human brain and the extraordinary
properties of water and soil. We know that every bit of creation and the
heavens screams the existence of God: "The
heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalms 19:1)
Let us realize that God loves people and wants to know them. God
looks down from heaven to see if any of the human beings He has created are
seeking Him (Psalms 14:2). He longs for people to respond to Him as He reaches
out to them. How can we know God personally?
The New Testament reveals that the Son of God provided the way by becoming a
human being, Jesus Christ. Because of the work of Christ on the cross, people
are enabled to turn back to the Lord (Rom. 3:21–26; 5:1, 8–9). We can know God
by receiving Him in our hearts and becoming His children (John 1:12-13).
