When God calls a man a fool, it means he is actually a fool. I wonder what God calls me. What is God’s assessment of my life? And you, what does God call you? People may call us many different names. They may call us an expert, a very shrewd businessman, a man who knows how to plan and execute. But what does God call us? It is worth looking very closely at what made God called this man a fool, because it was a certain man and it could be you or I.
“The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool…”
Luke 12:16-20 KJV
Luke 12:16-20 KJV
It appears to me as if at the end of a man’s deep thought and consultation with himself, his conclusion and choice of action to be carried out usually determines what name he acquired for himself before God. Taking a deep thought and making consultations are not bad, but the question is: with whom are you consulting? Men who have gone ahead of us and have been successful in their pilgrim journey without making a shipwreck of it, were men whose first port of call was always God. They were men in whose hearts and on whose lips you will always find the question: “Lord what will you have me do?” They understood the danger and risk involve in thinking, deciding and executing your thoughts all by yourself. Their reasons were because God’s counsel to all His children as touching any matter, great or small is:
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
What do we do today? Like the man in the parable, we also always think within ourselves – “And he thought within himself…” Even when we ask questions, it is ourselves that we asked: “What shall I do…” We analyzed our situations, checking what are available and what are not, what we need and what we need not, and discovered all by ourselves that our problem is “because I have no room to bestow my fruits”. At this point, there’s no way our conclusion will not be: “This is what I will do!” and the utterance from heaven, if anyone cares to find out, is nothing but:
“Thou fool…”
If we were to assess that man according to his status among his colleagues, classmates or competitors, what would we have called him? We would call him a genius, an economic genius. But God called him a fool. Think about it. Let us ask ourselves again, what does God call me?!
Perhaps you have a very wonderful reputation. People introduce you as Professor so and so and then list out all your achievements and that is actually all you spent your life doing. You spend all your life in the laboratory, just to be called a Professor; but outside the laboratory your life means nothing. What does God call you, Prof? God call that man a fool. Will He say concerning you…, “Look at this fool. I lent him sixty years. He spent fifty-nine of it pursuing paper, ordinary paper qualification and, pursuing fame with men; but he has no record with Me. What a fool! I gave this man intelligence; he has never sat down one day to ask, ‘God, what do I do with the ground of my intelligence that has brought forth plentifully?’ Rather he sat down to plan to possess the tomorrow that may never be his.”
Sister, what thought is going on in your heart now? Brother, what conclusion are you about to make? You are at the critical junction of marriage. The ground of your intelligence has landed you with what men interpret as a bright future. Or maybe the ground of your beauty, prospect, background or academic achievement has brought forth many suitors clamoring all around you and there are so many marriage proposals that you are presently sorting out within yourself. What and who is guiding the conclusion that you have or are almost arriving at? Under whose counsel are you zeroing in on that brother or that sister as the right partner for your Christian journey here on earth? Who told you that that is the will of God for your life? What will God call you by the reason of that choice?
May be for you, you are concluding on calling a quit to your marriage because you think (within yourself) you have tried all you could and it doesn’t seem as if it can ever work. On what strength are you standing to conclude and are ready to implement your decision? Hope it is not because of what the ground of your life seem to have brought forth? Hope it is not what you have laid up for many years that is making you to think and conclude within yourself that you can do without this man or this woman; after all, ‘What is he or she contributing to my life’, you said.
If any of us is still in the process of thinking or that of implementing your decision, this may indeed be a timely warning. Can you suspend your thought or decision and rather begin to consult with God in case you are almost earning for yourself the status of a fool before God? Don’t mind who may be advising and encouraging you to go on. Even if that person is yourself; you will still end up as a fool before God in whose assessment our thoughts, decisions and conclusions matters so much. Much more, you will bring upon yourself a curse because:
“Thou fool…”
If we were to assess that man according to his status among his colleagues, classmates or competitors, what would we have called him? We would call him a genius, an economic genius. But God called him a fool. Think about it. Let us ask ourselves again, what does God call me?!
Perhaps you have a very wonderful reputation. People introduce you as Professor so and so and then list out all your achievements and that is actually all you spent your life doing. You spend all your life in the laboratory, just to be called a Professor; but outside the laboratory your life means nothing. What does God call you, Prof? God call that man a fool. Will He say concerning you…, “Look at this fool. I lent him sixty years. He spent fifty-nine of it pursuing paper, ordinary paper qualification and, pursuing fame with men; but he has no record with Me. What a fool! I gave this man intelligence; he has never sat down one day to ask, ‘God, what do I do with the ground of my intelligence that has brought forth plentifully?’ Rather he sat down to plan to possess the tomorrow that may never be his.”
Sister, what thought is going on in your heart now? Brother, what conclusion are you about to make? You are at the critical junction of marriage. The ground of your intelligence has landed you with what men interpret as a bright future. Or maybe the ground of your beauty, prospect, background or academic achievement has brought forth many suitors clamoring all around you and there are so many marriage proposals that you are presently sorting out within yourself. What and who is guiding the conclusion that you have or are almost arriving at? Under whose counsel are you zeroing in on that brother or that sister as the right partner for your Christian journey here on earth? Who told you that that is the will of God for your life? What will God call you by the reason of that choice?
May be for you, you are concluding on calling a quit to your marriage because you think (within yourself) you have tried all you could and it doesn’t seem as if it can ever work. On what strength are you standing to conclude and are ready to implement your decision? Hope it is not because of what the ground of your life seem to have brought forth? Hope it is not what you have laid up for many years that is making you to think and conclude within yourself that you can do without this man or this woman; after all, ‘What is he or she contributing to my life’, you said.
If any of us is still in the process of thinking or that of implementing your decision, this may indeed be a timely warning. Can you suspend your thought or decision and rather begin to consult with God in case you are almost earning for yourself the status of a fool before God? Don’t mind who may be advising and encouraging you to go on. Even if that person is yourself; you will still end up as a fool before God in whose assessment our thoughts, decisions and conclusions matters so much. Much more, you will bring upon yourself a curse because:
“This is what the LORD says: Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
Jeremiah 17:5 NIV
Jeremiah 17:5 NIV
Whatever you do after hearing these decides what name God will call you!!!
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