(Scripture from the NKJV and KJV)
– My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you. You shall be no priest to Me. – Hosea 4:6
– “I have only come here seeking knowledge – things they would not teach me of in college.” (“Wrapped Around Your Finger“, written by Sting, performed by The Police, copyright 1983)
Albert Einstein once said that information is not knowledge. However, with the explosion of the internet and modern technology in the last generation or so – most of us in the world have access now to more information than we know what to do with. It is not making us more knowledgeable – even though we may think it is. It is almost impossible for our finite human brains to receive, process, and filter every tidbit of data we hear or read.
For then we must act or decide what to do with it – or what not to do with it. What we listen to or view can quickly exceed our intellectual, moral, or theological capacity to handle. Anything in life that starts to get overloaded eventually reaches a tipping point and things start to spill out. This can happen to our hearts and brains – and what comes out may not always be good (Matthew 15:17-19).
Randomly increasing our information in-take does not automatically increase knowledge. We may think we know something, but we really only know “of” it. Information really just provides us with an “outside-in” understanding of a topic or person, Being well-informed is not a barometer for our wealth of knowledge. Knowledge is the fact or condition of knowing something or someone with familiarity gained over time through experience or association.
In the lead verse above from the book of Hosea, the Israelites may have thought they knew God – but their actions and behavior were showing Him they only knew “of” Him. Because of this, the Lord had a controversy with the people of the land. There was no truth, mercy, or knowledge of Him among them. By their swearing, killing, stealing, and committing adultery – everything they did was contrary to His ways (Hosea 4:1-2).
For this, God told them their land would mourn, everyone would languish with the beasts of the field, and all the fishes of the sea would be taken away. They would be destroyed – all for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:3-6). What the Lord said next to them may sound harsh … He said the Israelites were playing the harlot. In their eyes they may have thought they were well-informed about God – but they had gone a-whoring from under Him.
Their hearts were set to do iniquity – and the spirit of whoredom among the people had caused them to err from His ways. This was all turning their hearts away from Him. Everyone was drawing near to God with their lips – but their hearts were far removed to other gods. Fear towards Him was only being taught by the precept of men (Hosea 4:12-15, Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:8).
We can gather all the information about God we want to from sermons, seminars, on-line searches … and Scripture itself. We can all seem to know God really well – when we may be only knowing “of” Him. Anyone can search the Bible and extract a lot of “information” and think they have everlasting life – yet all that person may be doing is repeating a process of always learning, and never being able to come unto the knowledge of the truth (John 5:39, 2 Timothy 3:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
For Christians anywhere today, not being wise in our own eyes and fearing the Lord first and foremost is the beginning of all our knowledge of Him (Proverbs 1:7, 1:29, 2:5, 3:7). This is the beginning of true wisdom and holiness (Proverbs 9:10). If there is no fear in our hearts – how can we say we truly know Him? We may just know “of” Him – and the consequences can be very destructive.
Leave a comment