ebb and flow

1 Corinthians 1:17–31; 2:1–16

God’s wisdom will “make foolish” the wisdom of the world. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."  Isaiah 55:8–9 "Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made; the same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes;"

D&C 38:1–2 We weak mortals cannot know and understand more than He who created us. His wisdom is higher and brighter than the wisest mortal earthling.

Nevertheless, all knowledge and truth come from God. Learning is a commandment. When we seek it to glorify Him, it is a blessing. Wordly knowledge can be enticing to our vanity, causing us to think the things of God are foolish. "O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." 2 Nephi 9:28–29 It's a fine line that lovers of learning must constantly and consciously consider.

“There is opportunity to get both [secular and spiritual learning] simultaneously. … If we spend our mortal days in accumulating secular knowledge to the exclusion of the spiritual then we are in a dead-end street, for this is the time for man to prepare to meet God; this is the time for faith to be built, for baptism to be effected, for the Holy Ghost to be received, for the ordinances to be performed. Contemporary with this program can come the secular knowledge, for even in the spirit world after death our spirits can go on learning” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 390).

 God uses “the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” and “the weak things of the world to confound the … mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27). Perhaps intellectuals are in greater need than the average man to become childlike in faith and absence of malice. Because the gospel is so simple, some won't condescend to accept it. They can't believe that a powerful, all-knowing God hasn't organize a more intellectual pursuit.

Paul faced weakness as he taught the gospel, but these weaknesses were made into strengths. Lately, I understand Paul's dilemma, inadequate and afraid to do His work. I'm only me, small, insignificant, ailing with a thorn in my side, and simple. Just as with Paul, the Lord eases my short comings and gives me power, when I have faith. As my faith ebbs and flows, so too do my abilities to fulfill the special work He has given me.

Anyone can know the “things of God” by the power of the Spirit, but we have to seek the Spirit "as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him." Mosiah 3:19 When we rely more on our own wisdom and intellect than on revelation through the Spirit, we will not find true wisdom. We will be frustrated and our learning will be foolish and shallow. “Pure religion is a thing of the Spirit and not of the intellect alone, and its truths must be carried into the hearts of hearers by the power of the Spirit, otherwise the human soul is not changed … and the seeker after salvation does not become alive in Christ” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 2:318).