Psalm 99:6-9
Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel also called on his name. They cried to the Lord for help, and he answered them. He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud, and they followed the laws and decrees he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, but you punished them when they went wrong. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem, for the Lord our God is holy!
In the 1994 movie Dumb and Dumber[1] Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels take the character of “dumb” to new
levels. One scene’s focus shows Carrey
attempting to blot out whatever his dumb partner (played by Jeff Daniels) is
saying. He sticks his fingers in his
ears and loudly debates, na, na, na, na, na, na, Naaaaah! That he blots out what Daniels is saying is
true, he can’t hear it; that he makes what is real unreal, is, contrarywise,
only what a fool would believe.
It is that way with
fools shaking a clenched fist at the sky to proclaim (as the mind of fools is
want to believe) that no God has the right to meddle in human’s lives; it says
so right in our 244 year old Declaration of Independence. A rather older source (by a mere 4,000 years)
refutes that thinking.
Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! Psalm 14:1[2]
There are so many
moving parts to living as a human being.
Just breathing in and out, although we do it without thinking, would
take a city of libraries to do even the slightest bit of justice to how
magnificently the respiratory system conducts the orchestra of life’s
miracle. The fool somehow imagines he
evolved into that because of some innate strength for which he or she alone can
take credit. Eyeroll intended!
If breathing is that
incredible, yet everyone does it over 21,000 a day, what if we tried to fathom
such things as reproduction, DNA, and human relationships? Well, then you get really mind-boggled.
And, so, let me get to
the point (before I don’t) – when life falls apart because of bad choices, like
ingesting nicotine into really pink, healthy lungs, or eating yourself into a
stupor, or imagining in any of 6 billion ways you can thumb your nose at how
God designed life to be joyful, non-anxious, purposeful, and filled with joy,
thinking you can do a better job…you’re sitting in the front seat of the pickup
truck with Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, sticking your fingers in your ear
and blotting out truth.
The Good News is that,
for anyone who will unstop their ears from hearing, repent of unbelief, and
trust in God’s mercy – that mercy far outweighs the justice that can lead to a
fool’s demise.
Let’s Pray
Father, forgive us
each for taking our turns with blotting out the truth; your voice calls in soft
whispers; help us to be still, open the ears of our hearts, and listen.
For You Today
It helps to remember
that it IS possible to blot-out
truth; that doesn’t mean you’ve won the debate; God’s truth is eternal and
unbreakable[3].
[2] A search
for the connection
between fools and the human heart shows how strongly God feels about this
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