I will not make you raise your hands, but I want you all to consider a question. How many of you have ever questioned the wisdom of God? Perhaps it was in a personal situation: “Why did God let my sister die?” or “Why is God not answering my prayer for the salvation of a friend?” I recently read an atheist mocking the God of the Bible by saying that the idea of creating an exclusive way of salvation is foolish. Even more, he said that God’s choice to send out his foolish message by word of mouth was absolute absurdity. I mean, if God is all powerful he could have spoken the Gospel message directly to every human being, right?

When we ask these types of questions, whether we mean it or not, we are implying that we know better than God. Now, let me ask you another question: how many times this week have you lost your keys? How many times have you called your child by the wrong name? How many times did you write 2016 on a document this year? Not too long ago, I was in Walmart with my brother and we were separated for a minute. Then, I looked over and saw him bent over looking at some CDs. Just for fun, I walked up and tweaked his love-handle. And immediately this large, bearded, not-my-brother man stood up and looked at me with anger and bewilderment in his eyes. You see, as smart as I think that I am, I cannot even recognize my biological brother in a supermarket. I often spend 30 minutes looking for sunglasses that are on my head, forget scheduled appointments, and cut myself while cooking. All of these facts have led me to seriously reconsider whether or not I am qualified to question God.

The Folly of the Gospel

Considering these truths led me today to read a passage in 1 Corinthians:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1:18-25).

Do you see Paul wondering similar things here? “Where is the one who is wise?” When I look around I see a bunch of people like me. I see people that like to consider themselves wise, but truly wise men, I have met few.

I would like to say that when someone becomes a Christian we automatically see all of God’s actions for the wisdom that they are. I would like to say that I understand everything that God is doing. But I do not think that is what Paul is saying here, and I do not think that is the message of the Bible. I do not think that God gave us His Word so that we can say, “Oh, now I get it.” Instead, Paul says “in the wisdom of God, the world DID NOT KNOW GOD THROUGH WISDOM.” But instead, “it pleased God through the FOLLY of what we preach to save those who believe.” To be honest, I do not get it. I do not know why God did not write his Gospel in a universal language on every tree that grew out of the ground. He has legions of angels, why not have them bring the message? Surely more people would believe angels. But God does not even address this question, he does not explain why his methods are wise.