July 8, 2024

Isaiah 44.24, 25 (NIV)

“This is what the Lord says . . . I am the Lord who has made all things . . . , who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense.”

Any time a man leaves God out of his life or out of his consideration, that man has become a fool.*

I once told a co-worker, “I am never as smart as I think I am.” Yes, I thought I had found a short-cut or a better way to do something but all I did was waste time and resources. Fortunately, my come-uppance wasn’t open to the public!

In this passage in Isaiah, God talks about people whose wisdom and better ideas are aired openly. It is their job to predict, pronounce, and pontificate so effectively that people believe what they say. Some of their words may even be true and valuable. But I picture one of these wise and dignified men giving a speech in front of an audience of his peers, when suddenly his words become gibberish. Perhaps he starts singing nursery rhymes or spouting wild stories about aliens or quoting the voices in his head. Imagine the astonishment of the crowd.

Compared to God, humans at their wisest are foolish – objects of ridicule. Scientists think they have everything figured out; philosophers think they can explain it all. Economists think they can solve our financial problems while politicians promise to eliminate poverty. Sometimes their ideas help to improve our lives. But it never lasts. All of their knowledge amounts to nothing.

In I Corinthians chapter 1, Paul asks, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age?” He says that God was pleased through the “foolishness of what was preached” to save those who believe. He echoes the message of Isaiah: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” Christ, he says, is the “power of God and the wisdom of God.” (Emphasis added.)

Reason, science, and technology have not solved . . . our problems.*