#132: Men’s Wisdom Versus God
So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him” And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.”
II Kings 6:13 NKJV
At Christmas time it is common to read the account in Luke 2 of the wise men arriving from the East to Jerusalem in search of the King of the Jews. In light of the revelation given to Herod his barbaric butchery of the male children is all the more staggering. Wise men from the East followed a moving star in the sky all the way to Jerusalem. While there, Herod learned from trustworthy advisers that a prophecy from 700 years earlier described where the Messiah would come from and it was the little town of Bethlehem just down the road. Great men from distant lands were on the move. Celestial bodies were moving. Prophecies were being fulfilled. And with all of that King Herod thought he could somehow thwart the coming of the King of Kings. The arrogance and ignorance of wicked men setting themselves up against God would be laughable if it were not so deadly.
Consider Pharaoh as another example. His nation had been devastated by ten of the worst plagues known to human history. Perhaps no greater destruction had been brought upon a place since the worldwide flood in the days of Noah. Pharaoh watched as Moses warned him of each plague, as each plague came to pass, as the plague was removed for a time, and then as the next one commenced. Pharaoh watched as his nation was decimated and Goshen was protected. He watched as the firstborn in all Egypt died. He chased after the Israelites in the wilderness and was left unable to move by account of darkness between the army of Egypt and the Israelites. He observed as God separated the Red Sea, divided it in two and caused the Israelites to escape Pharaoh’s armies on dry land. Having seen all of that, he still ordered his army to chase the Israelites through the dry Red Sea where they were swallowed up as God brought the waters back together.
As with Herod and Pharaoh, so Ben-Hadad thought that he could thwart the ways of the Almighty God who had been revealing the secret words of a king to a prophet many miles removed. He thought he knew better than the God who had protected Israel from strategic defeat on many occasions, who had healed his top general Naaman, and who had miraculously defeated Ben-Hadad in battle on several prior occasions. With all the facts of defeat before him, Ben-Hadad believed that he could yet capture Elisha.
These accounts in history teach us that wicked men will always consider themselves to have more wisdom than the most wise God. They constantly will act as if the clay has dominion over the potter or the creature over the Creator. In our day the dictator of China thinks he can stop Christianity and it is growing faster than ever before. A wide variety of God’s enemies believe they can stop the public worship of God and He is still being worshipped publicly and that worship will never cease. Planned Parenthood and its supporters think they will be able to murder innocent children without repercussion forever. Meanwhile, throughout history, the blood of the innocent cries out to God and He brings great destruction upon the unrepentant murderers.
The wisdom of the wicked is foolishness before the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. Like Ben-Hadad they may try to take and harm the Christian. They may find out where the Christian is. They may have armies to send after him. But the Lord brings the plans of the wicked to nothing for the wisdom of the wicked is only foolishness continually.
Surely, said Ben-Hadad’s servants, Elisha is in Dothan.
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