Day 24: Be Prepared to be Foolish

The Holy Spirit is our divine source of power and wisdom, but the way the Holy Spirit directs us is often totally contrary to natural reason or wisdom. The challenge therefore is: are you willing to yield to His guidance? Paul states this paradox very clearly in 1 Corinthians 2:12– 14:

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

There are two spirits that Paul speaks about: the spirit of this world, the Spirit which is of God - and there’s opposition between them. As long as we’re under the influence of the spirit of this world we will cultivate a kind of wisdom which is of this world. But when we come under the Spirit of God and allow Him to teach us and guide us, we receive a totally different kind of wisdom which appears foolish to the people who are under the influence of the spirit of this world.

Paul goes on:

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

So, the wisdom that comes by the Holy Spirit is not couched in the language of human wisdom. Paul goes on to say:

“But the natural man [a man who’s limited to his own natural understanding without the Holy Spirit] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

So while we are merely in our own natural reasoning and understanding, no matter how highly educated or sophisticated or cultivated we may be, we cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. In fact, they are foolishness to us. That doesn’t mean they are foolish but it means that may seem foolish to you.

You see, God is not impressed by the wisdom of this world.

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’” (1 Corinthians 3:18–20)

Paul says the kind of natural knowledge you have does not fit in with God’s revelation. The first thing you have to do is come to the end of all that natural reasoning and reliance on your own intellect and your education, humble and abase your mind before God and acknowledge that what you have is not divine wisdom. And then the Holy Spirit will begin to impart to you divine wisdom.

Reflect: How do you  value God’s Word compared to human education and intellect?