equally wise, equally foolish

From the very beginning, Satan's best trick and favorite method seems to be to tell us, "Sure, God said this, but you're smart enough to know that what He really meant was..."

We get ourselves into the most trouble when we start thinking that we are somehow smarter than God, that we know better than He does. We chase after our own plans as if somehow what we have in mind for ourselves is better than what God has had planned since before time began.

We take what God has said, and we twist His words to fit our own purposes. We take what He has spoken out against--greed, envy, lies, sexual immorality, hatred, anger--and we try to say that He isn't really against those things. We say that His words were meant for a different time, and that they don't apply today.

What makes us think we're smarter than God?

Why do we think we need to interpret His words, that somehow we've "evolved" to be above what the Scriptures tell us?

Jeremiah 10:6&7, 12-14a tells us

"O Eternal One, there is no comparison:

You are great; even Your name is powerful.

Who wouldn't worship You?

It is only right; You are the King of all kingdoms.

The wise and powerful men of all nations in their realms

are still nothing compared to You. [...]

Know whom You are dealing with!

God alone is powerful enough to create the earth.

He alone is wise enough to put the world together.

He alone understands enough to stretch out the heavens.

His voice thunders through the heavens,

and the waters gush from the sky;

He summons the clouds to build up over the earth.

As the rain falls, the lightning flashes at His command;

the wind rushes in from where He alone can store it.

All of humanity is stupid and bankrupt of knowledge."

There is a quote from Einstein that says, "Before God we are all equally wise--and equally foolish." To God, our knowledge is nothing. We take our stands, fighting over human knowledge and what we say is right and wrong, and I think sometimes God just shakes His head.

Proverbs 3:5-7 tells us,

"Place your trust in the Eternal,

rely on Him completely,

never depend upon your own ideas and inventions.

Give Him the credit for everything you accomplish,

and He will smooth out and straighten the road that lies ahead.

And don't think you can decide on your own

what is right and what is wrong." 

God has told us what is right and what is wrong. He didn't disguise His words. He didn't make them hard to understand, or something that needed our interpretation.

Because, to be honest, He knows that we can't figure that stuff out on our own.

Our country is spiraling out of control. And really, it boils down to the fact that we seem to have decided that we're smarter than God. We tell ourselves that we know what's best. We get outraged over what we see as social injustices, but we are blind to God's declaration that those things we are standing up in support of are wrong.

When we set ourselves up to judge what we deem right and wrong, we are setting ourselves up to fall.

And when we fall, we are going to hit hard at the bottom.