1 Corinthians 1:21-29 (KJV)
“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And the base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh glory in his presence.”
God tends to work in strange ways. He sometimes uses things that we may not necessarily think could be used to further his kingdom. Someone with cancer, a little child, and many other circumstances. Sometimes he will use small things and at times he uses big things. But what ever he uses, he uses the way he sees fit. To us some of things may seem impossible. That there is no way they could happen.
Let me list some of these very things that to us, especially in today’s world, seem foolish and nonsensical.
In Genesis 6-9, we find God using Noah to save a remnant of all the people and land animals at that time. He calls on Noah to build a huge boat out in the middle of nowhere. There is not even a body of water close by in which to float this ark in. Add to that, the reason the ark is to be built is because it is going to rain for a large period of time. But the question on the lips of those at the time was, “What is rain? What are you talking about?”
To them this ark being built was nonsense and foolish.
In Exodus, we read how Moses was told to strike a rock to get water out of it. (Ex. 17:1-7) How does one get water from rock? Squeeze it? Pull it? Stomp on it? Twist it? How does one get water out of rock? Can you get enough to feed a whole nation of people? God told Moses to strike it. Further on in the book of Numbers (20:3-11) God told Moses to get water out of another rock. This time by speaking to it. We all know that getting water of rock is foolish, but God saw that it was done, twice.
In the book of Joshua we read how the first city in the promised land was captured. How God told Joshua to go walk around the city one time for six days. Then on the seventh day, he was to walk around it seven times. So for that one week, they walked around a city for a total of thirteen days. Myself give me a few bombs, a tank or two, some missiles, maybe some special ops. But to walk around a city thirteen times? Now that is also foolish.
But that is not all they had to do. The last time around the city of Jericho, they were to blow trumpets then yell at the top of their lungs. Then they were supposed to just go on in and clean house. I still want some special equipment in to accomplish this. But God had his own plans. When the Israelites did what they were supposed to do. God caused the walls to come down and they were able to just walk on in. They then proceeded to take the city.
And there are many more examples, of this type of foolishness. A woman in her nineties has a son (Gen 18:10-12). An axe head floats in water (2 Kings 6:4-7) God stops the earth from rotating, or as the Bible says the sun and the moon stopped (Josh 10:12, 13). God uses three hundred men to defeat an entire army. These three hundred men were all that was left of over two thousand (Judges 7:6,16,21).
These are just some of the many examples in the Old Testament. Men today would say that these were just stories. None of these things could happen. Well except for a small force of men being able to make a large army look like fools. You can’t get water from rock. You cannot defeat a city by walking, horn blowing, or yelling. You can not get an axe head to float. Not without trickery or stacking the deck in your favor. It is impossible for any of these things to happen.
The New Testament has some of its own types of foolishness. You have people walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33). Virgins giving birth (Matthew 1:18-25). Men rising from the dead. Men traveling huge distances in a short amount of time. People dying and coming back to life. These are all listed and there are more besides. But God had his hand in these things, too. The only one that would make sense today is the virgin having a child. Medically we can do this today. And there are plenty more.
The great thing about all of these examples is that God’s ways are higher than ours. Nothing will keep him from accomplishing what he has planned. Mans wisdom is nothing compared to his. Our wisdom is wrong when it comes to the things of God. God does not need man to tell what he can or can’t do. Even when we know it can’t happen to today, unless you are a magician.
God makes man’s wisdom look like foolishness. At the same time we tend to see that what God does and has done is foolishness to us. But then this does not matter. Why? God wins. He made the rules and he can break them if he wants to. No matter what our wisdom says about it.
The cross is just one such thing. Why would anyone choose such a grisly display? Why would someone just to go through so much pain and agony? To further the goals and aims of God Almighty. He did it so that weak man will not have to go through the same type of thing. To lift the weak above the strong. To bring down the wisdom of the wise. To be able to show that his power is above all. But more importantly so that man cannot say that he has perfected himself.
That is Gods right alone. We are to have glory in the works of Christ and not in our own works. Our works will one day disappear. Christ’s and God’s work will be eternal. Put your trust in the foolishness of the cross. Put your faith in the God who performed all the foolish works in the Bible. If you don’t, you will lose more than you seem to gain. God chooses to use us because of what we aren’t. He changed us to what we are. He will change us to what he knows we can become. God’s foolishness is wiser than mans wisdom. His weakness is stronger than mans strength. Choose to be foolish, weak and base where the world is concerned. And you will see what God can do to mess up the wise, strong and mighty.
