Proverbs 14:6a, The Greatest Delusion

August 2, Proverbs 14:6a

2 Peter 3 “They stumbled at that stumbling stone” (Ro. 9:32).

The Greatest Delusion

What a tragic note is struck here! A scorner seeks wisdom, and findeth it not. Because of sin, man’s thoughts are not only in rebellion against God and His laws, but he is unable to subject his thoughts to God. The unregenerate walk in the futility of their own darkened minds (Eph. 4:17-19; 1 Cor. 2:14). Man’s own feelings have become the supreme judge of right and wrong, of good and evil. This simply makes every man a god unto himself. Yet, in spite of all his boasting and effort, wisdom is not found, neither will it be there at the end of the day.

1. Human Wisdom is Delusive. Why, if always seeking truth, does man never arrive at it? It is because his search is pre-confined. It is restricted to down-under– no allusion to Australia! The scorner’s concern is only with this present world. Arnot calls him a secularist, which, he says, is Latin for this-worldism. It regards this world only. It opposes all reference to the spiritual realm. A well-known Canadian political pundit wrote in the “Toronto Star” concerning the drive to have prayer “through Jesus Christ our Lord” restored to Parliament. His summation was: “The true religion of politics and government is secularism.” Thus, there is no place for God in the highest courts of the land, unless it be the god of the secularist. As a consequence, man is like a rudderless ship, without chart or compass, without one star to guide by, aimlessly adrift on the sea of life, at the mercy of every wave and wind, without a harbour to steer to until at last he sinks into oblivion.

2. Human Wisdom is Destructive. The scorner is not just sarcastic or rude. He is likely sophisticated and clever, but his secularism predetermines his rejection of God. This gives him his name, Scorner. His problem is eye disease. He has spiritual myopia that developed because of the size of his ego. He can’t see what’s right in front of him even when he trips over it! Boasting of his sincere search for truth, he has a closed mind and lives in a closed universe. He accepts only what he deems to be so. His children must be educated in his secular worldview. He professes neutrality, but revealed religion has entered our world and also transformed its history. How shall teachers deal with these historic facts? There is no neutrality here. Every teacher, and scholar, is either for or against Christ and the Bible. When these topics come up, teachers must take sides, and they do. The search for wisdom, therefore, is not only futile, and delusive, but destructive as well. Secularist seeking and knowing can never find true Wisdom.

“Hear the just doom, the judgment of the skies;
He that hates truth shall be the dupe of lies;
And he who will be cheated to the last,
Delusions, strong as hell, shall bind him fast.”

Thought: The liberty of having no Lord over the conscience is not an option to man.

Prayer: Lord, in my submission to Thee alone is all the liberty I need.