Tomorrow of course is April 1st, so-called “April Fools Day,” though the day is less about fools than it is playing tricks on people. A person who gets tricked is not a “fool;” he’s just gullible. And though the two words are often interchanged, they mean very different things.
A gullible person is one who is “easily persuaded.”
A fool is a person who “lacks good judgment.”
In other words a gullible person can be tricked into doing the wrong thing, but a foolish person doesn’t need to be tricked; he’ll do the wrong thing all by himself.
The Bible has a few things to say about such people. Let’s consider three kinds of people who are called “fools” by God.
IF YOU KNOW TO OBEY BUT WONT
One of the most famous Bible verses related to atheism is found in opening line of Psalm 14.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…
Psalm 14:1a
The reality, however, is that this verse is not talking about atheism at all. As a matter of fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find references to atheism anywhere in the Bible.
The idea that there isn’t SOMETHING bigger than us is a relatively new concept in world history. It’s a brand new level of ignorance to reject the idea of a higher power. But again, that’s not what this verse is describing.
This verse is talking about the one who KNOWS there’s a God but refuses to acknowledge Him. This person knows God exists, but refuses to obey God. So the inspired David says: it’s the fool who says…IN HIS HEART…”there is no God.”
You have all the evidence around you, you know it is true, but you refuse to allow God to rule your life. Why? because you don’t want to obey. You don’t want to bend to His will. You don’t want to put away the wickedness that you’re doing.
So you lie to yourself. You say in your heart and convince yourself “there is no God that rules me, there is no God that owns me, there is no God that commands me.”
Look I totally understand the motivation behind the humanist. It makes perfect sense. Humanism is the greatest indulgence to selfish desire that man can conjure up. Because if I am – the human being – the absolute top of the food chain, if there is none being bigger than me, then I am my own boss. I own me. I rule me. I command me.
And that idea is so tempting that people CHOOSE to believe it, even when all evidence points to the contrary.
So I get it, if there IS a God then I have to obey Him, and if I don’t then He will punish me. And the selfish me says “That’s not fair…why can’t I choose to disobey Him and go on my merry way? Why cant He just leave me alone?!”
And the answer rings loud from Heaven on high: because He’s God – and I’m just a human.
And that’s why, when you see debates on the existence of God, the one who tries to argue that there is no God can only argue from emotional positions. All of his arguments point back – not to intellect — but to emotion, despite the fact that he’s supposed to be the scientist.
The one arguing for the existence of God, meanwhile, uses science, not feelings or emotions, despite the fact that he’s supposed to be the “superstitious one.”
The reason is: Science proves there is a God. The one who accepts the evidence doesn’t need to rely on gut feelings. He’s got the proof on his side.
But the atheist refuses to accept the obvious, because he doesn’t want to. Emotionally he can’t, because he would have to concede that he must obey. And the number one tenet of humanism is: You are the boss.
So when they are faced with a God that demands obedience, they can either humble themselves in the sight of God or they can stare the evidence in the face and say: there is no God.
You notice by the way, that the word belief hasn’t come up in this discussion. Because the kind of belief that God demands is not simply an understanding that there is a God (of course there’s a God – all the evidence points to it). The kind of belief God demands is not simply an understanding that Jesus rose from the dead (of course he rose from the dead – all the evidence points to it.). What’s the big deal in mentally understanding facts?
If I say to you “George Washington was 1st president of the united states” no one is going to pat me on the back for knowing and acknowledging that. Of course he was. All the evidence points to him as our first president.
If I tell God that Jesus is the Christ Who rose from the dead, God’s going to say “…and?”
Bible belief involves doing something. You understand that God is God and Christ is the risen Savior and that is supposed to motivate an action (the action being: obedience to His will). If, however, you understand that God is God and Christ is the risen Savior, and you choose not to obey, then according to David you are a fool.
IF YOU THINK YOUR PROBLEMS ARE BIGGER THAN GOD
Oh think of all the suffering that God’s servant Job endured! You start in chapter 1 of his book and immediatley all of his livestock (his primary source of income) is killed. Then, his servants (his means to redevelop his income) are killed. Not only that but all seven of his children are killed. Gone in one day.
His entire family except for his wife, his livelihood and his family name are obliterated. You move into chapter 2 and he becomes infected with horrible boils and sores, and throughout the book you have the three “friends” of Job who spend their time trying to convince Job that he must have done something awful to God to have such horrible conditions fall upon him.
Now its worth noting that even Job himself believed that God was doing this to Him. Job believed that all of his suffering would end with God killing Him (Job 13:15).
But consider Job’s wife.
Now I’m tempted to defend this woman, because she has lost her entire family and livelihood too. Clearly shes in emotional distress.
But I wont defend her, because Job too has lost everything and unlike her, he hasn’t lost his faith…
So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.Job 2:7-10
So here is Job, emotionally distressed and physically diseased. And here comes Mrs. Job who examines all that has befallen her husband. And she says to him “after all this, you still maintain your innocence?” Like Job’s friends she believes he’s done wrong to God and that it’s his fault that God is hurting him. So what’s her advice?
Blaspheme and commit suicide. “Just curse God and die, Job!”
Now we the readers know that its actually Satan who is responsible for all of Job’s sufferings (chapters 1-2), but still it’s important to keep in mind that everyone involved in this thinks God is the cause, though the reason its happening, they can’t agree on.
Job’s friends think it’s because Job angered God (4:7-9); Job’s wife does as well. Job knows he’s innocent however, and throughout the whole book as he argues back and forth with these friends, basically defending himself from those who think he’s done wrong.
But here…he defends God.
When his wife says just curse God and die he calls her a “foolish woman.”
If we receive good from the Lord, shall we not also receive evil? Now again, Job has it wrong in that the evil is coming from Satan, but the fact that he’s willing to defend the God that he THINKS is punishing him says a lot about his character. And when his wife wants him to curse God, Job – who believes God is responsible – won’t have it.
Why? What does he understand about God that his foolish wife does not?
Job’s attitude is: “You want me to curse God?! Why? God is the only one who can save me from this mess!”
Even if God WAS the One doing this to Job (as Job thought), there’s still no one bigger than God. God still is the only One Who can stop the pain. To reject God when the going gets tough says to God “my problems are too big for you, if they weren’t I’d rely on You!”
Look at the contrast between Job and the fool in the previous point. Job knew there was a God, and even when he thought that God was attacking him without cause, he still knew: He’s God; He’s bigger than me; He’s the only one who can help; Who else could I turn to for help?”
He could have chosen to deny God and blame his problems on bad luck or karma or any other madeup nonsense. He could have – like his wife suggested — cursed God and ended his physical pain.He didn’t. Because he knew that the only way out was with God’s help.
If I think that my problems are too big for God, Job says I’m a fool.
IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
No matter who you are, the odds are you think you have “more time.” If you’re young you think you have decades more. If you are middle age, you assume you have “a whole second half to go” and if you are elderly, every year means “I only have a few more left.”
We don’t like to contemplate our own mortality, so we tend to deny it. Sometimes such denials become unhealthy…
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.Luke 12:15-21
Did you notice the foolish thought this person had? Right in the middle of the text, the foolish farmer said basically “I have all the time in the world.”
Notice again:
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Luk 12:19
He says to himself “you’re set for years…take it easy! You have all the time in the world!”
And God says “you fool! You went to bed thinking you had all the time in the world; you went to bed mocking the judgment of God and His impassioned pleas for your repentance…fool!”
“I have all the time in the world” he said. And God said “And God says…after tonight, the sun will rise, just not for you.”
He went to be thinking he had all the time in the world, but God said “you fool…tonight…your time is up!”
Don’t be a fool! Recognize that God is out there, and submit to Him. Will you have trouble and problems along the way? Sure, but trust God and He will see you through. No matter what, don’t forget that you are not guaranteed a tomorrow. Get right with God right now!
Think about it
have a great day!
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