Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.” Proverbs 1:29-33
This past week, I had a very interesting conversation with someone in regards to knowledge. She was advocating a form of Eastern meditation, and I challenged her on it since she claims to be a believer. She disagreed with me and insisted that knowledge is far wider than what the Bible tells us, and she felt that we should be open to other sources of knowledge.
This is exactly what the above scripture tells us about the dangers of knowledge apart from the fear of the Lord! Not every knowledge is valuable or fruitful. More importantly, some knowledge denies the existence of a holy God and what He declares good or evil. If we open the door to ungodly knowledge, it will cause us to veer off from God’s path and gradually we will find ourselves on a path of destruction. Furthermore, we open the door to the demonic world by coming into agreement with the lies of the enemy.
We live in a culture that the latest and greatest is the most popular. However, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The truth about spiritual matters does not change. The Lord does not change to accommodate our lust for the latest and greatest! His ways are tried and true! We have many witnesses from the Bible as well as history that confirms those who walk with God reap a harvest of righteousness. Their lives are more peaceful and stable! To the contrary, we also have the opportunity to learn from those who disregard God’s law and end up in all kinds of pain and bondage.
When we build our understanding of the world based on the fear and the love of God, we have a firm foundation that allows us to evaluate the information we consume appropriately. It doesn’t mean that we can’t look for other sources to gather information and gain knowledge; it just means that we evaluate everything through the prism of the Bible and the knowledge of the Lord!
There are millions of books out there that promise to provide us with knowledge. However, there is one book that is far greater and more powerful than any other book ever written in the history of mankind and that is the Bible! Do we value the knowledge that the Lord has provided for us through His word!? Do we allow it to form our worldview!?
The Lord has given every person the power of choice! People can choose to treasure His word or to seek after other knowledge outside of the boundary of God. The enemy will continue to whisper in people’s ear that they are going to miss out on something if they don’t pursue other kinds of knowledge. The enemy also accuses God of withholding good information from them. However, the above passage tells us that if we want to dwell safely and to be secure in life, we should listen to the Lord and seek His knowledge!