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The Foolishness of God

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1 Cor. 1:27-31 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

Our culture, and humanity tends to gravitate to the strong, intelligent, talented, and beautiful people of the world. We value these things, celebrating them and paying big bucks to be entertained and impressed by them. But according to the passage above they are not usually God’s first choice. Can God use those people? Absolutely. But His track record from the Bible reveals time and again that He usually chooses the underdog.

Now one example of the “foolish” choices God made was in tasking a group of nomadic, ex-slaves to march around a city, blowing rams horns, and shouting to win a battle. Sure, we know from Scripture, the “Battle belongs to the Lord.” (1 Sam. 17:47) – but in everyday reality we tend to gravitate to the strong, intelligent, talented, and beautiful people of the world to save the day. God is not our first choice. And you can rest assured that the slim minority that believe Jesus actually communicates to them are oftentimes a little anxious about asking Him about His solution to the mountain of a problem they may be encountering. Why? Because they are a little fearful that He might ask them to do something that to a watching world isn’t going to be cool. It’s actually going to make them look foolish; make us look foolish; or make me look foolish.

But guess what? If you are in one of the groups above: foolish, weak, lowly, despised, unpopular, ugly, average, and not very talented – you are not only what God chooses, you are what God accompanies. The closest I ever feel to God is usually when I am at the low point of feeling like one of the above. Oddly enough, that’s when I see Him move on my behalf; when I see Him answer prayer. This is why God despises self-righteousness, or do it yourself righteousness. Why? It’s substitute righteousness. It’s replacing Him. It’s not humble, or teachable, and it’s definitely not meek. It’s full of SELF – not God. Self – Righteousness is Self-Powered. It is SELF – willed, and a self-willed person is the opposite of a meek person. Meekness is quite the opposite. The original meaning of meekness is drawn from the usage of bridles placed on horses. The horse is a powerful animal that has the potential to kill any man. Yet, this powerful animal willingly submits to the bridle often bowing its head to cooperate with its master. Could it be that’s why prayer is so important to the Lord? He’s looking for those who are wiling to bow their heads to their Master; to bow their heads in prayer; to bow their heads in willing submission to things that offend logic and reason. Could it be that’s why He leads us to do the foolish things to see if we will bow our heads in submission and trust?

What Jericho are you facing? Are you willing to inquire of Your Master? To ask for His strategy or plan to address your problem? Are you willing to bow your head and submit to your Master; to His strategy, and plan? Or will you find yourself with those who surely stood behind the walls of Jericho’s impenetrable fortress mocking?

Haves and Have-Nots

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1 Samuel 1:2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

Tony Evans once preached that: Debt has become a way of life. There are now three groups of people in our nation: The Haves, the Have-Nots, and the Have-Not-Paid-For-What-They-Have. Instead of living for the future, people are now paying for the past. Debt has become the new addiction.

Hannah was barren physically. For whatever reason she could not bear children. She was a have not. Unfortunately she failed to see what she had: 1 Samuel 1: 4-5, 8 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, ….But to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had given her no children….Then Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you cry? And why do you not eat? And why are you grieving? Am I not more to you than ten sons?

Hannah focused on the “haves” and the “have nots” – rather than focusing on what she had. Unfortunately, her focus on the “haves” seemed to lead to an offense with God: but the Lord had given her no children….Psalm 119:165 states: Great peace have they who love Your Law and NOTHING shall offend them. John 5 recounts the story of a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. Although Jesus knew of his condition He had not healed him, yet. In Acts 3 Peter and John entered through the Beautiful Gate, or Eastern Gate – Jesus, and all Jews would have passed through in order to pray three times a day. Jesus would have passed by this lame man – without healing him. How many times have we failed to see where God is at work because of our offense at where He wasn’t?

Making matters worse, Hannah had a “sister wife” who added to her offense: [This embarrassed and grieved Hannah] and her rival provoked her greatly to vex her, because the Lord had left her childless.7 So it was year after year; whenever Hannah went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah provoked her, so she wept and did not eat. (1 Samuel 1:6-7) Beware of anyone who seeks to aid you in your offense – whether it be yours or there’s. Oftentimes, we are led to believe that we need to find a commiserator – one who will share in our offense. Truth be told nothing good comes of it.

Peter and John proceeded through the Beautiful Gate to worship – not stumbling over any offense. The interesting thing about the word Beautiful is that in the Greek it carries the sense of “at the right time,” thereby signifying “ripe” or “perfectly developed.” Peter, John, and Hannah’s faith, perfectly developed, overcame their possible offenses at barrenness and pressed in to God: 1 Samuel 1:10-13 And [Hannah] was in distress of soul, praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly.11 She vowed, saying, O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your handmaid and [earnestly] remember, and not forget Your handmaid but will give me a son, I will give him to the Lord all his life; … And as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli noticed her mouth.13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. In that moment of faith, Hannah moved from the have nots – to living in the future Hall of Faith. She ceased being a debtor to the past – breaking her addiction to it. Her faith moved God. She became intoxicated with trust in a God Who could be moved. Scripture says, We have not because we ask not. Yet, it adds, Ask, Seek, and Knock.

A.W. Tozer once said, Behold how these Christians die, they say. And I repeat, they only died well because they’d lived well. And a man who hasn’t lived well will have a tough time getting in.…So, remember it, that a Christian dare die if he’s lived right, and he’s got his hope alive and he’s been born of the Spirit and walking with God. But he doesn’t dare die if he hasn’t. A man who’s only a church member doesn’t dare die, and yet he has to, and there’s a tragedy of it. Forced to do what he morally doesn’t dare to do. They said to old Uncle Tom, tell me where she is. He said, I can’t, Master, I can’t. Tell us where she is. I can’t, Master, I can’t. Tell us where she is or we’ll kill you. Well, Master, I can die. He couldn’t betray a friend, but he could die. So Christians dare to die.”

Followers of Christ will eventually have to choose to follow Jesus to their own death. But the death will not be physical but spiritual. Often Jesus will invite us to surrender our offenses yielding to faith in the unseen. He will invite us to worship through our times of asking, seeking and knocking. During these times will others be able to say of you, Behold how these Christians die? If you consider Jesus your friend, or truly want to be, can you lay down your life for Him?