Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Proverbs 26:12 “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.”
Isaiah 5:21 “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”
Romans 1:21-22 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools”
II Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God”
Before I truly leave the PLUS series on Impacting Babylon, I want to make a related final two-post detour to a similar topic – Impacting (a fallen) Eden. Many scholars believe that Eden was situated in what is now modern day Iraq, largely because of the mention of specific geography related to rivers in Genesis Chapter 2. The Euphrates and the Tigris (whose ancient name was Hiddekel) run a large portion of the length of Iraq, and converge into one river in the southern part of the country. It is well situated to be the home of the original paradise.
Yet, it didn’t remain paradise for long because of the pride of its original inhabitants. Adam and Even were wise in their own eyes, and were attracted to the things that were prohibited to them by God. Their folly led to a fall that impacts us today in our sin-soaked world. Woe unto them, and woe unto us. If only in their quest for wisdom they realized that their sufficiency was of God.
It is easy in a pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps culture to trust in our own sufficiency to handle our own problems. We elevate our wisdom above God’s wisdom, and thus stumble through life facing pitfall after pitfall. In doing so, we are fools who are worthy of pity instead of proclaim. Additionally, our ability to impact our fallen Eden is hindered by our conceit.
PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO AVOID THE PITFALLS OF PRIDE AS WE ARE TEMPTED TO SEE OURSELVES AS WISE. In a desire to prove ourselves as sufficient, we turn our backs on the true source of wisdom that comes only from God. Woe unto us as we see ourselves prudent and wise; our words and our thoughts cannot make us so!
