System vs Scripture

Osayi
6 days ago
5 min read

The Foolishness of Wisdom

There is a story in 1 Samuel 21:10–15 that tells of David fleeing from Saul into the territory of King Achish. When word spread about who he was, fear overtook him. To preserve his life, he chose to act as though he were mentally unwell. His ruse worked.

David behaved in a way that deflected the king’s attention and protected him from certain death. In that moment, he acted wisely. Sometimes a false perception can shield us from danger.

But unlike David’s self-preserving strategy, there are those who devise schemes to make others appear unstable or foolish, not for their protection, but to discredit, diminish, or control them.

In David’s case, appearing foolish diverted danger from a king who would have killed him. In other cases, the innocent are painted as fools to divert favor from kings who would otherwise bless them.

I remember a young woman I met at a shelter. I invited her to stay with me until she was stable enough to get back on her feet. Shortly after arriving, she began acting strangely. One day she confessed,

“I know you’re the type of person who would give the shirt off your back. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

She seemed unsettled, almost guilt-stricken, rather than at peace in a home that was to be a place of refuge.

Then it dawned on me that her guilt was not random but purposeful. Her presence became a ruse meant to make a genuine act of compassion appear foolish.

Some individuals, under a false narrative participate in actions believed to be justified to ensure order. In most occasions the underlying motive is punitive or retaliative.

Another young woman made a statement that underscored this point. In alluding to my previous place of worship she had said,

“They love you; they’re just trying to prepare you…”

It was a revealing statement.

Cruelty is Not "Process"

But here is the truth: cruelty is not process.

Any process of “preparation” that requires convincing people to act wickedly, especially against someone undeserving of it is not of God.

Any system that deters kindness and compassion bears the fingerprint of the enemy. Any method that sets itself against the grace of God which causes men and women to shine as light and salt in the earth is a strategy rooted in darkness.

When we are undiscerning, we can become tools in the hands of evil without even realizing it.

Evil must never be justified as preparation. Cruelty should never be excused as “process.”

What message does that send to our generation and to the ones coming after us? What kind of world are we creating when we agree with devices meant to extinguish sincere acts of kindness?

Systems vs. Scripture

A woman once advised me that the lesson from my experience was simply not to trust people and not to help everyone. Certainly, discernment is necessary when extending help. But how convenient that the intended outcome of these occurrences was to limit generosity and increase self-preservation, the very opposite of what Scripture instructs.

Believers are encouraged to care for the poor and relieve suffering. Yet the world often promotes the opposite, to suppress anything that radiates the light of Christ labeling it weak, inefficient, or unprofitable. It becomes systems versus Scripture.

For those who profess Christ, evil can never be excused as a means to produce good. A “process” that is actually a manufactured method of breaking someone down is diabolical.

It does not produce wisdom, it produces cynicism. It does not bring clarity, it breeds confusion. It does not increase capacity, it stifles it.

Christ builds up. The enemy breaks down.

Christ elevates. The enemy denigrates.

True discipleship never requires stepping off the straight path. Fulfilling your God-ordained destiny will never require you to partner with darkness.

So where have we attempted to mix darkness with light?

The Misuse of Suffering

One source of misalignment is the distortion of Scripture, sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly. Consider the eager longing for revival. We read passages like Acts 4 and treat them as prescriptive for every Christian experience. If in these cases suffering (x) led to revival (y), it must be that 'x' can always produce 'y' with enough pressure. The temptation becomes to create such an environment by exerting pressure or by witholding necessary intervention in matters that call for justice.

But consider this:

Persecution drove the spread of the Gospel during the early church but it was not engineered by believers to manufacture revival.
Jesus warned His disciples about what they would endure before His death and ascension. Their suffering was foreknown and woven into God’s redemptive plan. The enemy believed he had won, not realizing the cross would multiply “little Christs” who would carry the Gospel throughout the known world.
The persecutors were not attempting to inspire revival; they were trying to extinguish it. The conspiracy to kill Jesus and His followers was deliberate evil. The redemptive outcome was not their intention, it was God’s sovereign triumph.

When humans attempt to replicate what only God can oversee, the results are often disastrous. While nothing is beyond God’s redemption, the outcome may fall far short of His perfect will. God’s wisdom surpasses human wisdom every time!

Revival cannot be manufactured.

By definition, revival is the awakening of the spirit, an awakening orchestrated by the Spirit of God in a response of repentance to the Gospel.

What Ignites True Revival?

Perhaps we've missed sight of what ignited the first revival of the Church. It was not pressure. It was Love.

It was the pure, sacrificial, redemptive love of God displayed on the cross through Christ Jesus. It is the love of Christ that pierces hearts, opens blind eyes, and allows light to penetrate darkness.

Evil can never accomplish what love can.

The love Christ embodied is not naïve; it is wise and God-glorifying. It exposes what is crooked and makes it straight. It restores what is broken. Godly love operates in the light. It does not mix with darkness, it transforms it.

Look to the Cross

To those who say kindness is weakness, and to those who justify evil in pursuit of good,

I say, look to the cross.

True faith is not rooted in what we accomplish for ourselves, but in what Christ accomplished for those who believe.

We often repeat slogans like, “God helps those who help themselves.” While it may contain partial truth, we can easily forget that it is God who empowers anything we are able to do.

As we consider our efforts, plans, strategies, and ambitions, may we learn to give them to Jesus so they may be purified and aligned with His perfect will.

If doing good is labeled foolish, and godly wisdom is dismissed as weakness, then so be it in the eyes of the uninformed. Scripture reminds us that the message of the cross appears foolish to those who consider themselves wise.

Attempts to make compassion seem foolish, and to spring doubt on spirit-led judgment only magnifies the grace of God.

Praise the Lord that for the born again believer, the new life must depend on His wisdom and not our carnal strategies.

So, if we are to be foolish, let us be foolish before the One who made us.

Let His wisdom refine us and make every crooked path straight.

Let us give ourselves to Him alone because His love builds up and never breaks down.

Halleluah!