Take keer of yourself, kid. Watch your cinches!”
–Eugene Manlove Rhodes (The Trusty Knaves)
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise.”
–1 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
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“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!” –Isaiah 5:21 (NKJV)
“Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight.” –(HCSB)
This is the fifth “woe,” a pronouncement against what we would call “secular humanism” (postmodernism can be added to it). “Humanism is belief in humanity,” simply stated by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Man can do all things. He can go to the moon, he can do magnificent surgeries, he can split an atom (hmm, can he put it back together?) “It is interested solely in men and women without God. It banishes God because it believes that human beings are sufficient in and of themselves.” (Lloyd-Jones) My hasn’t he done a great work? Pestilence, famine, war, creation in crisis, water shortage, and on we could go. I like the CEV on this, very blunt, but to the point. “You think you are clever and smart!”
Shakespeare gives one of the best definitions and viewpoints of man: “What a piece of work is a man, now noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable. In action how like an Angel. In apprehension how like a god, the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.” (Hamlet) Yes, man was created a marvelous being, a little lower than the angels, with dignity and in the image of God. But he threw it away, right from the start he was deceived into thinking he could be like God. Instead of walking and trusting God he turned to self: the cosmic humanist to the occult, the secular humanist to science. Lloyd-Jones says this of the humanist belief, “By delving into the mysteries of the universe and its constitution you discover the scientific truth about life, and from that you proceed to work out your whole scheme of living.” Woe!
Man’s greatest gift is that of the mind. The problem is that people’s minds have gone wrong, “they do not know how to use them properly” (Lloyd-Jones). Look at your social media or the news and you can quickly see where the mind of man without God has taken him. As Paul wrote, “Professing to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:22, NKJV) To misuse this wonderful gift of the mind is one of the most blatant sins of man; it is a blasphemous action against God.
Given this wonderful gift, they took it and became fools. Mark 8:36 asks a pertinent question to all, but especially the humanist. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world [of knowledge and of wealth], and lose his own soul?” Perhaps, this is the time to ask, what is your view of yourself? Are you in need of a Savior or are you wise in your own eyes? In the movie, “Shenandoah” we see a very humanistic prayer by the father, Charlie Anderson (played by Jimmy Stewart). “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. We cooked the harvest. It wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be eatin’ it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-boned hard for every crumb and morsel. But we thank You just the same anyway, Lord, for this food we’re about to eat. Amen.” Me, I, we, or we’ll give a token “thanks” to God. Self-confidence, self-righteousness, pride, doing what they deem right in their own eyes, self-sufficient–this is nothing but rebellion. “Who needs God?” they flaunt. Woe! Paul writes, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7, NKJV)
Man in all his greatest inventions, construction, building magnificent monoliths of steel will weep because it cannot stand before Almighty God. John writes, “Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’ In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin! With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.” (Revelation 18:10,16,21, NIV) Only what God has made will last. Who can stand before the Almighty? Certainly not man–woe to those who think they can.