After serving as a youth pastor in Oregon, wonderful friends and youth group sponsors had a bright son who, after graduation, attended a very reputable, conservative seminary, one I certainly would have recommended. But to my surprise and chagrin, before graduating, he became very cynical about God, and after graduation ended up turning away from God instead of growing closer to him.
While pastoring, a promising teenage couple committed to serving Christ were very careful to have their obvious devotions in the church parking lot. They married and both went to a very reputable Bible college in a nearby state to pursue ministry. After 3 years, they became antagonistic to the Christian faith and walked away from serving God. How can this be??
I recently volunteered to serve as a pastor-at-large in an international seminary. With a faculty of PhD-holding missionaries, the seminary focused on the selfless love and service of students aiming for careers in ministry unto God. The seminary’s student-body president publicly asked me, how can a student with the high stress of studying theology and writing papers also maintain a passionate heart for God? That was a legitimate question!! Could a person get so lost in studying the Bible he or she overlooks its intended message? Jesus said that had happened to the Pharisees. (John 5.39) It all depends upon the motive for searching it.
Solomon wrote an interesting verse. “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you.” Prov. 4:7-9 ESV. Could it be Solomon had actually put wisdom above his love for God? The way he writes in the following verses, it certainly would appear so. If so, this could have been a major contributor to him turning away from God’s laws and bringing demise on himself and Israel.
It appears that the overwhelming power of our sinful nature creates a significant mental split between wisdom and God. This is a deep and meaningful concept that deserves consideration. Unless a person is diligent to maintain prayerful meditation on the Word, seeking to find out how it reveals more of who God is and how we must respond to that revelation, the sin nature will distort wisdom and God, just as appears to have happened to Solomon. The moment we put priority of whatever sort—Bible study, ministry to others, family, finances, and the like—above intimacy with God, it is only a matter of time before our relationship with Him begins the fossilizing process.
We need to consider if anything has diverted us from giving God our full devotion. It’s possible we won’t be able to eliminate that ‘something’. Let’s re-evaluate our diminishing values and focus on seeking His kingdom instead of those well-intentioned “little foxes” that are harming our close relationship with our King. “Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love, for the grapevines are blossoming!” (Song of Solomon 2:15 NLT)
It prompts me to ask if my participation in righteous actions might be inadvertently consuming the precious time I dedicate to spiritual wrestling and discerning God’s word. I’ve noticed that these grappling times are the times I most clearly perceive His whispers to my spirit.