Proverbs 14:8 ESV
The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.
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“Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit,” says Matthew 15:14, and Christ isn’t talking about literal blind men here. He’s talking about the Pharisees. Why, if their eyes work perfectly well, does He call them blind? He calls them blind because they have refused the teaching He has given them on the real nature and meaning of the cleanness code in the Pentateuch. He calls them blind because they repudiate the truth given them by God Himself. The fundamental nature of evil is against the truth, after all, and to the fool, who loves evil (Psalm 14:1), hates the truth. He therefore blinds himself, walking to perdition with his eyes shut tight. The wise, meanwhile, are by God preserved in truth, to see the reality before them and walk in it by righteousness.
To walk with God is to walk in truth. Christ named Himself, after all, “The way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Truth, we see clearly, is integral to God’s nature, to His holiness, and therefore to the righteousness and holiness of His creatures, which is a reflection of His holiness (1 Pet. 1:16). The wise man, who fears the Lord (Prov. 1:7) and walks in His path (Ps. 119:1), walks therefore in the light of truth. Furthermore, he does not walk this path alone, nor could he. In Psalm 43:3, David cries, “Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me,” and as the triumphant end of that psalm two verse later indicates, this is a prayer which does not go unanswered. God guides His people along the path of righteousness. He sends even His Holy Spirit to aid us, to illumine our ways (John 14:26).
The fool, conversely, has blinded himself. The whole race of man, Romans 1:20 tells us, has an innate, unconquerable knowledge of the existence of God, of the honor due Him, of the evil of their actions. The fool, though, suppresses this, denying it is true and turning instead to his own devices. Ever since the Fall (Gen. 3), man’s desires have been instinctively contrary to God. Sin, the path of destruction, is ever at man’s door (Gen. 4:7), and unregenerate man will not turn away from it without God’s redeeming hand (Ps. 53:1). Very often, though, man refuses to know this, refuses the innate knowledge given to him by the conscience God created him with. Thus, men self-deceive, inventing philosophies and religions by the boat load in order to escape God.
Of course, self-deception is itself a foolish practice, and like all foolish practices it has easily seen, practical effects. The man who never does his balance sheet and still convinces himself that his business is doing perfectly well is, in most cases, headed straight for financial destruction. The woman who spends four hours a day inventing passive-aggressive ways to aggravate her husband while pretending the problems in her marriage stem from anywhere other than her is headed straight for something remarkably messy. The child who pretends that he knows how to cook dinner when in fact his greatest achievement is not burning the house down along with the water is headed straight for a much more physical mess. Any time we refuse to face the truth of the situation, of our own capacity and culpability, we set a trap for ourselves, a trap which we, in true Biblical fashion, walk straight into (Ps. 7:15).
God has promised His people clear eyes and good sight of the world, through His Word and in His spirit (John 14:26). He has promised, furthermore, that those to whom He has given salvation, those who have received His enlightening truth, those men will see His glory (2 Thes. 2:14). He who came in salvation (Acts 4:12) and in judgement (Rev. 14:15) shall return, and on that day His glory shall be revealed, so that all will see the truth, all will be without capacity to deny it (2:10-11). Though all who hate Him will then hate Him still, they will unwilling proclaim His glory in their judgement. Yet we, whom by repentance and faith He has united to His Son in both death and resurrection, we may glory in that day, for it is the glorification of the saints, of the world, and of the Son of God, to whose Name be glory, forever and ever, amen.
God bless.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
