Day 151, Year 1

God Cares for Those With His Knowledge

“The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man.” (Proverbs 22:12 NASB)

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6 NASB)

“Knowledge” in both verses of today is da’ath in Hebrew. In the first verse, “knowledge” is translated as “the understanding” in the Chinese Union Version. Hence, the “understanding” refers to those who have God’s knowledge. On the journey of faith, we who seek knowledge could actually receive an additional reward, which is the care of God. It is similar to how some societies often respect or honor intellectuals.

The second half of the first verse implies that God’s people with knowledge should avoid all deceitful speech, but serve Him with uprightness. It might also allude to our carefulness in speaking and sharing with others. Indeed, when we share how God has cared for us, nonbelievers might be drawn to His knowledge and subsequently turn to His right path. 

Contrarily, as the second verse of today suggests, the consequences of not seeking and accepting God’s knowledge are disastrous—those people do not deserve to serve spiritually, have no descendants, and head toward a state of being destroyed. Destruction here does not mean immediate loss of life, but being forsaken by God, as well as the torment, anguish, and misery that lead to the final destruction. When they abandon God’s knowledge, their connection with Him is broken. Still, some among them blindly believe that they will be saved as long as they claim the biblical promise of salvation. But they only do what they want and live according to their lusts in disobedience to God. Could such people truly be saved according to the Bible?

In fact, those who discard and disobey God’s knowledge would no longer be able to perform any spiritually effective service. “Reject you from being My priest” does not necessarily mean that those people have lost their title or position, but that God no longer acknowledges and blesses their services. Lastly, God will forget their children means that those people no longer have spiritual reproductive ability. Often, the number of believers in a place does not grow because there are many disobedient people. Their lives lack the contagious influence of God. Instead, they are spreading curses and disbelief to those around them.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you think that you are under God’s care as you pursue spiritual knowledge? If yes, what is the evidence?

2) Those who abandon God’s knowledge will be destroyed. What kind of hint or inspiration does this give you? How would you treat God’s knowledge from now on?