Much learning makes you simple?

Psalms 19:7b- The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

 

If you have read your Bible long enough, you would have realised that the Bible is full of paradoxes. Here is one such example – When you indulge into God’s Word you become simple. How ironic. I thought much education into the scriptures would certainly make one “wiser than the other”. Strangely “No”, in this case.

 

Having talked about the importance of the Word of God being a refreshment to the soul, in the second part of the same verse, David submits, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that God’s Word is trustworthy. 

 

David uses a legal word “statues” or “testimony” as in the KJV, to describe the steadfastness or the legality of God’s Word. And the same word is used to describe the ten commandments given by God to Moses. In legal terms, God’s Word is sure, trustworthy and stands the test of time. 

 

Having been in the legal field for some time, I know that all man made laws, statues have to be revised, reformed and sometimes even rescinded. They must acclimatize to the times and season and the customs of the people. But NOT God’s Word.

 

In the last many years there has been so many attempts to dilute, decipher and even negate the laws of God. One good example is the clamouring of the LGBTQ. Even Biblical scholars say that we have to read the scriptures with the modern lens of a liberated society. And this is only one straw in the whirlpool of progressive Christianity.

 

I pray that God will give me the ability and strength to be true to His Word, no matter what it cost. That I will be like Daniel’s three friends that will not “bow down to pressure” and in so doing violate the laws of God. On my own. I will not be able to withstand the pressure but with the enabling of the Holy Spirit, “ I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus”.

 

And this legal testimony, instead of making the wise more knowledgeable, more educated and more wise, makes one simple. The Hebrew word for simple and another canny meaning – silly. That means the more I study and dwell in God’s Word, the more I realise how little I know. It does not make me a self-righteous pharisee but like the publican, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner”.

 

Jeremiah 23:29 - “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

 

Wow.

That is the effect that God’s Word has on a true and sincere worshipper of God. It burns and breaks me first not just the others. I just realised how short I have fallen before this standard. The more I need God’s grace and favour to remain humble and transparent before the reading of the sacred scriptures. Instead of pointing the finger at others. It ought to be directed at me.