May 18

May 18 - Today from Proverbs 18 we look at verse 2
"A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions."

I have a book written by Andy Rooney called 'Not That You Asked'. No one has probably written or shared on TV more opinions than has Andy Rooney. He is an avowed atheist, which means that all of his thinking is pretty much opinion. After all, if there is no Supreme God, than what could his objective source of truth be? This is what intrigues me so much about Andy's thinking processes.
In the preface of his book he writes, "There's no way of knowing how we get to believe what we believe. We're all trapped within ourselves. We have this much and no more. We have our genes and our youth, during which our opinions are formed. Most of us don't change those opinions once we get them. Instead, we spend a lot of time looking for further proof that we're right."
It's good to examine the thought processes of an articulate avowed atheist. Andy is very honest about how he sees life. Without acknowledging the existence of God, he needs to find something that explains life. The sad thing is, I know many professing believers who follow much the same thought patterns, only they include Jesus usually somewhere in the periphery of their processing. As a result, they act much more on opinion than they do conviction. This is a sad statement of God's church.
I have no idea what an atheist would base a conviction on. Apparently neither does Andy Rooney. He is a believer in correct opinions, but because opinions are so subjective, I don't know how they could be correct for everyone. He goes on to say, "If we formed our opinions the way we should, we'd get all the facts together and then compare them, using logic and good sense to arrive at the right places." This sounds good, but in a fallen world full of deceitful and deceived people, how could one possibly accomplish this? "We don't do it this way very often, though, and as a result we acquire a lot of wrong answers that we're stuck with for life." If only believers were so honest.
We will never be able to understand life until we acknowledge the author of life and seek to understand it as He meant it to be. We will never arrive at this understanding by gathering facts and using logic and good sense. Without the revelation brought forth by the Word of God, all of our efforts are futile. "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding" because he would have to first acknowledge God, and then would have to throw all of his opinions out the window and seek to begin to understand life as it's meant to be. That understanding would place Jesus Christ in the center and His Word as authority. The fool wants to figure out life for himself and be his own authority. He "delights in airing his own opinion" because his pride believes that he has used logic and good sense to arrive at the right places, and he wants others to know it.
I can understand why Andy Rooney delights in airing his opinions before the nation. I can understand why godless people find no pleasure in understanding. What I don't understand is why believers consistently place their opinions above the authority of God's Word. I have been in discussions many times with believers - including leaders of God's church - whereby I attempted to clearly share a principle from God's Word to give understanding and guidance in a difficult circumstance. In such instances I even ask them to tell me what they think the Bible is saying. They themselves will articulate the understanding of the principle, but they ultimately opt to go with their opinion rather than following God's directives. Invariably the circumstance ends up in a mess. And why wouldn't it? Our opinions are as frail as a cobweb when compared to the fortress strength of the eternal Word of God. Oh how the church loves to air its opinions - but where is the pleasure in gaining understanding?
Wisdom places God's Word as supreme - above our most logical opinions, above our own understanding. It's called TRUST. We cannot have a proper relationship with God unless we trust Him. If we trust Him, we will obey Him.