The Fool Cannot Understand This

“How great are your works, O Lord!

    Your thoughts are very deep!

The stupid man cannot know;

    the fool cannot understand this:

that though the wicked sprout like grass

    and all evildoers flourish,

they are doomed to destruction forever;

    but you, O Lord, are on high forever.

For behold, your enemies, O Lord,

    for behold, your enemies shall perish;

    all evildoers shall be scattered.” (Psalms 92:5-9 ESV)

Who are the stupid? They are the foolish, senseless, irresponsible, impulsive, reckless, childish, and self-indulgent. And they may be people who are intellectually very smart, who have a vast array of knowledge on many different subjects, but who play dumb, when it suits their purposes, and/or who act ignorant when they do not wish to acknowledge wrongdoing. And they may be very charming and clever enchanters who are very winsome, but who plot evil on their beds against those who they despise.

I believe they are described for us in Romans, chapter 1, where it says,

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:19-23 ESV)

So, what might that look like in our day and time? I believe one of the biggest idols plaguing people today is the media – TV, movies, videos, the internet, social media (Twitter X, Facebook, YouTube, etc.), video games, and cartoons, and the news media – all of which are now available to us around the clock, 24/7, at our fingertips in our pockets, in the privacy of a corner, even in a crowded room. In themselves they are not all evil, but evil is lurking in every one of them. So it takes a person of discipline to manage them so that they do not become idols in their lives and consume them.

But it isn’t just that these idols can steal our time away so that we are not using our time wisely on other things of much greater importance, especially on matters of obedience to God in holy living, but they have enormous power to influence us away from the ways of God to the ways of the flesh. So many of the memes on social media, for example, are intended to persuade our minds a particular direction, which is often the wrong direction, and some people are easily influenced by these memes and will buy into the lies of the enemy without even realizing that it is what is taking place.

And then there are all these possible temptations to go places where no true Christian should go, and many people are being led down those “rabbit holes,” i.e. “used to refer to a bizarre, confusing, or nonsensical situation or environment, typically one from which it is difficult to extricate oneself” (dictionary). Pornography may be one of the biggest “rabbit holes,” especially for men, but it isn’t the only one. Some of these are just time wasters from media that is intentional in trying to “dumb us down.” 

And since so many people are being “dumbed down” by what is simplified so as to be intellectually and/or spiritually undemanding, i.e. oversimplified for the very purpose to keep us from thinking and analyzing and questioning, many people are not questioning a lot of what they think they see or hear or read, but they just accept it at face value if it sounds good, and if the message is pleasing to their ears. And so many people, thus, are being deceived and are being duped into believing the lies and not the truth.

And this isn’t taking place just in the world and on TV and the internet and other media sources, but the same methods of deception are being used in many of what are called “churches,” but are really businesses of human origin being marketed to the people of the world like any other businesses and their products. And so many of the leaders of these “churches” are now following the marketing schemes of other humans, and so they are diluting and altering the character of God/Christ, of his gospel, and of his church.

And the masses appear to be buying into the lies because the lies tickle their itching ears and make them feel good about themselves and do not require of them that they die daily to sin and walk daily in obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands. For they are being told that a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ guarantees them forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal destiny, but regardless of how they live. And they are being convinced that anyone teaching death to sin and walks of obedience are legalists who teach “works salvation.”

So, even though God has revealed himself to all humankind through his created works, only a minority of people seem to be listening to the Lord and to his Scriptures (in context) and who are following the Lord in dying daily to sin and in walking daily in obedience to the Lord in holy living. They are the ones who are on the narrow path leading to eternal life, while the majority (including professers of faith in Jesus Christ) are on the wide path leading to destruction which tells them what their itching ears want to hear, but not the truth that they need to hear, that they must die to sin and obey God.

But the truth of what Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught is that we are required of God, for salvation and for eternal life with God, not only that we acknowledge that we believe in Jesus Christ, but that we show our faith to be genuine by dying daily to sin and by following our Lord in obedience to his commands. For if we walk in sin, and if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, and not holy living, then we do not have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. So we need to believe this!

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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