Knowing Your Foolishness

RISE AND SHINE FOR JESUS!

By Pam Iannello (my late mother)

Psalm 69:5 (KJV)

O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

Folly appeals to the senses. The pleasure of folly is temporary. And where foolishness is found, sin is a close companion. Wisdom, on the other hand, appeals to the heart and mind. The satisfaction that wisdom brings lasts forever, and praise the Lord for it! Unfortunately, it is easier to excite the senses than it is good judgment… Do you know your foolishness, dear lady? Do you know your sins? If not, you might try considering how your senses are most often excited and you will surely uncover your errors and your follies. After that, the wise thing to do would be to secure your Christian testimony from your areas of vulnerability. We’re all pretty familiar with asking God for help with our sins but have you ever appealed to Him for freedom from foolishness?

What are the characteristics of foolish behavior? The answer, of course, is found in the Bible:

Psalm 14:1 (KJV)

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

The root tendency of foolishness is to ignore God and/or the evidence that He exists. It is a great folly, and even wickedness, when we refuse to live by God’s truths! In fact, as believers we can actually become atheist by practice when we rely more upon self than the Lord. Truly, whenever we deny God we become a fool in practice, and that is precisely how sin abounds - because we’ve denied Divine influence over our lives! If you’ve ever dropped your guard and “gotten a little crazy”, I’m sure there has been something you’ve had to make an apology for shortly thereafter – or should have! That is because foolishness and sin go hand in hand. And neither of these practices in our lives is hid from God; it is all done in His sight…

So, dear lady, what are you saying in your heart? We all have an inner language that bears out the real us… Are you professing one thing with your mouth but speaking quite the opposite in your heart? Are you as yielded to the Word of God as you display or are you resisting Him within? How many times have you abandoned the Word of God and reached for your own will? How often have you pushed aside what was right to indulge in a moment or two of folly? Do you believe you have every right to behave as idiotically as you want whenever the urge hits you? What about when you are not in church and/or not around church people? Does everything you typically “amen” get put on the shelf during the week till Sunday; are you only sober on weekends? What about during family gatherings or in settings with close friends – is this when you are usually found “letting down your hair” and giving way to foolishness? The only way any of this could occur is if you were to say in your heart there is no God, yet the Lord would know it, even if it was just a temporary perspective. And so, let each one of us eagerly and reverently consult with the Wisest Being in the universe lest we be blind to our own follies! Would God say you are still morally and spiritually sensitive?

The bottom line is, the more we distance ourselves from the Lord, the greater the increase of corruption, abominable works, and just plain no good. Not only do we commit foolishness we omit wisdom. Leaving off Bible reading, Bible obedience, and prayer is omitting wisdom which will rapidly lead to foolishness. Ladies, without a strong relationship with God and His Word we will think unwisely, speak unwisely, act unwisely, and basically, be lead around by our flesh, having our senses stimulated unfavorably. If you’re like me, your flesh doesn’t need to be made more active – it needs to be brought under subjection! When you know your foolishness and you know your sin, you will know the danger you face when your heart is inclined to function as if there is no God. If this doesn’t prompt you to sober up, what will?

God Bless,

Pam

Isaiah 60:1&2

Copyright 2007 Pamela A. Iannello