«The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’ » (Psalm 14:1).
A STORY SAYS that in a small remote town, there was an atheist whom everyone knew. This man spent the day making fun of Christians and speaking badly about God. One afternoon, that man entered the town’s watchmaker’s shop, and his eyes set on a black watch with a leather band. He then went up to the watchmaker and said to him, «Is it true that you make these watches?’ The watchmaker replied to this in a mocking tone: “No, I do not make them; they make themselves, just like human beings made themselves millions of years ago.»
Even though our mission in life is not to embarrass people who do not believe in God (not by a long shot), it is our mission to consider the status of our own beliefs. For that, I am going to take the text in Psalm 14:1 as a point of reference: «The fool has said in his heart, There is no God,»‘ We read something very interesting about this passage in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary: «The fool may profess God for social and business purposes, but ‘in his heart’ there is no room for a belief in God» (vol. 3, p. 661). That is, foolishness consists in pretending to be Christians at the same time that we deny within ourselves the existence of God and His power in our lives. As Romans 1:21 says, «Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.»
In the original Hebrew, the word that is translated as «fool» in English is nabal (does it sound familiar, like a character in the Bible who was really foolish?). In this case, nabal implies one who lacks wisdom, a knowledge of moral values, spiritual insight… one who is a materialist, judging values by size and power» (ibid.). Interesting, right? Being foolish is a combination of not really believing in the existence of God despite perhaps hiding that reality with our actions and our words, but it is also lacking spiritual perception and moral values, and living a materialistic and superficial life.
Lord, help us not to be foolish in any sense of the word. Increase our faith in You and allow us to live in such a way that shows it, not being materialistic or superficial. Amen.