One day Ahaziah fell through the balcony railing on the rooftop of his house in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers off to consult Baal-Zebub, (the Lord of the Flies) the god of Ekron, "Am I going to recover from this accident?" GOD's angel spoke to Elijah the Tishbite: "Up on your feet! Go out and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria with this word, 'Is it because there's no God in Israel that you're running off to consult Baal-Zebub god of Ekron?” (2 Kings 1:2,3).
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I wonder why we in the Church so often “run off to consult" those who know nothing of "the wisdom from above" (James 3:17), who do not know that "the fear of (reverence for) the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"? (Psalm 111:10).
We're too often dazzled by credentials and technical jargon and the certainty with which earth-bound mavens express their convictions, and we uncritically accept their counsel without laying it alongside God's word for analysis. We do not "test the spirits"—look into the hidden presuppositions and philosophical underpinnings of every system to see if they are of God (1 John 4:1-6). Only too late do we realize that we've embraced a "wisdom that has not come down from above," but is "earthly, unspiritual, and demonic" (James 3:15).
Paul writes, "We have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you…but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of Life on a cross. That’s why we have this Scripture text: 'No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it— What God has arranged for those who love him.' But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you. The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way" (2 Corinthians 2:13-17, The Message).
Is it because there's no God in the Church that we inquire elsewhere? Elijah’s last words to Ahaziah should cause us to pause: “Because you consulted Baal-Zebub, Ahaziah, you shall surely die” (2 Kings 1:6).
David Roper
10.21.21
10.21.21
