A strong intellect is a wonderful, powerful gift that’s entirely dwarfed by our Creator’s unfathomable wisdom and 100% knowledge of all things. Apart from God, our worldly wits (God-given themselves) can only take us so far and can even work against us.
My parents had doctorates, and intellectual pursuits and academic achievements were celebrated. I had many deep conversations with my mom, who had a doctorate in philosophy and European history, and my dad, a college physics professor.
I was awed by their vast knowledge and passion for learning. Chatting, traveling, and going to museums with my parents were a treat because they knew so much about so much. Our times of intellectual connection are among my most cherished memories in an otherwise difficult family life.
Though my mom was a woman of fervent, tested faith, she didn’t apply Biblical wisdom to daily life, an abstract concept to her as a Vatican I catholic. My dad was an agnostic who, like Einstein, marveled at the divine wonders revealed by physics and admired the great religious thinkers, but without a practical faith in a named God.
Our family, full of promise, was on a disastrous trajectory by the time I was thirteen, with ripple effects that lasted a lifetime. No amount of smarts, education, and hard work could fix any of it. God could have and would have, had He been sought.
God’s wisdom isn’t helpful if we don’t know, believe, and apply it. Though I had a transformative encounter with Jesus at thirty-three, I didn’t always live aligned with what I was learning, for reasons that are only clear now, many years later, having suffered consequences of choices made disconnected from God’s truth.
Naturally, this reality applies to nations, too. There’s been an information explosion, with vast knowledge about all subjects available at our literal fingertips, yet the world is an unfolding catastrophe on all fronts. Most of our God-sized problems are beyond human repair.
There is a solution: Submit our smarts to the God of the Universe. Re/turn to Jesus with humble hearts, recognizing we’ve made a mess of things and need supernatural rescue.
As it seems His amazing grace and blessings haven’t moved us, fear of God is a fine start.
“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
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