These were difficult days. By swearing and lying,
killing and stealing and committing adultery, they broke all restraint.
Bloodshed was followed with more bloodshed. The land itself mourned,
and
everyone living there languished. What horrible conditions in which to
live!
The source of these troubles, however, was easy enough to diagnose.
There was
no knowledge of God in the land, of His will, of truth, mercy and
justice.
While there was much external religious activity, it was based on human
emotions, not the revealed will of God. Everyone’s image of
God was based on
their own desires, not on God’s revelation of Himself in
Scripture, His
revealed truth. The result was Hosea’s cry that,
“My people are destroyed for
lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).
The above description, while written almost 2,700 years
ago, would well fit our day and age. While there is a lot of talk about
God,
Jesus and spirituality, there is little time spent in the only source
available
that reveals them clearly and authoritatively, the Bible. Emotions and
feelings
take priority and God must conform to these. Actually, it must be the
other way
around. Our knowledge and understanding of God must grab our attention,
focus
our emotions and motivate our actions. Paul spoke of the Jews of his
day …“I
bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to
knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from
God, and
seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s
righteousness”
(Romans 10:2-3). The same is true of many today.
Of course, knowledge without love puffs up, resulting
in arrogance (1 Corinthians 8:1). It shouldn’t be one or the other, but one with
the other. The current swing of the pendulum in modern society, away
from a
real knowledge of God based in Scripture, has produced the same results
that
Hosea lamented in his day. Problems in government, problems in society,
even
problems in the church, share a common source. When everyone does what
is right
in his own eyes (Judges 21:25), the consequences can be devastating.
Unless we
get back to living as God intends, how much farther will society go?
Unless we
get back to Scripture as a pattern for the church, will we become just
another
denomination?
We must redefine the parameters of our love within the
framework of a knowledge of God. We must take Scripture to heart, and
apply it
to life. We must cease trying to form God to our image, and instead
allow
ourselves to be molded in His image. “And it is my prayer
that your love may abound
more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may
approve what
is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with
the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the
glory and
praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).
A
Lack of Knowledge