The differences between the believing mind and the non believing mind.
Throughout the Bible, which the believer in God trusts as God's revealed truth to the people He created, we see that time and time again the believer relies on the fact that God is omniscient and all knowing, and that God is vastly superior in not only knowledge, but is also wiser than the mind of any human being. And how the non believing mind discounts God's wisdom, thinking himself superior to what in his mind is foolishness, and yet is shown to be thwarted and frustrated by God's own hand...
The non believer already discounts God's wisdom as foolishness, and so we see written verses like these.
"Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish." Isaiah 29:14
And again in the New Testament...
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." 1 Corinthians 1:19
Numerous examples display very clearly how the wisdom of men who think themselves wise in their own eyes are frustrated by God Himself as the example of Kind Saul hunting down the innocent and righteous David in the desert shows.
"He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, "I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish. Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe." 1st Samuel 24:2
David and his men were being hunted down like Dogs by the jealous and wicked King Saul, yet God himself handed the King right into David and his men's hands, as it states in that verse above.
This happened twice where David had yet another opportunity to kill Saul, who had become wicked and jealous of David, as it says here...
"So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.
Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”
But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”
So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left. 1 Samuel 26:7-8
According to these scriptures King Saul prayed to the same God that David did, the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, Our God that we believers now believe and follow today through His Son Jesus Christ...and yet the text reveals clearly that God was listening to David's prayers, while ignoring King Saul's prayers.Why is that? We might ask, why did God listen to David's prayers, but not Saul's? They were praying to the same God, so, what's the problem?
King Saul although appointed by God himself to be king of Israel had become arrogant, self serving and jealous of David's accomplishments. The people loved David, He destroyed Goliath, a nine foot giant of a man with just a slingshot and five stones as a teenager, and in so doing saved the entire nation of Israel.
Saul, although recognizing David's accomplishments which were great, became so enraged with jealousy because the people of Israel loved David and followed him, seeing that he walked with God and was not afraid to show it or talk about it, instead of thanking and recognizing that David had indeed saved King Saul's own Kingdom, he was jealous and vindictive, to the point of wanting to hunt down and kill David.
Again the bible says this...
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble…1 Cor, 1:25
And again
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-30
Over the years I've witnessed very intelligent highly educated people that refuse to believe in God or His Son Jesus Christ, that while having an appearance of wisdom, seem to lack what a lot of us call common sense, or can't seem to see the bigger picture. There's usually a huge blind spot these types have. To these folks, a believer like me or many millions of other Christians (who possibly have more College education than the non believer, or has accomplished a lot more in their careers) we are simple minded, ignorant, lacking in wisdom, not knowledgeable, and naive...And yet experience tells me that in time, the non believer begins to show a lack of real intelligence or common sense and displays a large amount of self centered arrogance, lacking in humility, while believing themselves very important, having not accomplished that much over the years. I've also witnessed and worked personally with on tours like Promise Keepers in the 90's for three straight years, and a few Christian Missionary type tours (for example in the Philippines or other poor areas with Orphans) with believers of a very high stature In the music Industry which I've been a member of for the last 40 years, who were very humble people. Some of these names are Abraham Laboriel, John Ferraro (Larry Carlton's drummer and others), Cactus Moser (Wynona Judd's Drummer and Husband), Steve Taylor (Widely known Christian Rocker and Film Maker), Nathan East, Bob Wilson (Seawind) to name a few. these Christian musicians and artists I know and have worked with personally that have accomplished things on a national, and international level, not just local or regional level, and are WORLD renown for their musical playing, producing, Film making, or songwriting, are pretty humble people...I'll end with this verse, which I've found to be very truthful and sound wisdom...
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
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