Are you ready to be a fool?

No, it's not a trick question. It's the question God wants to ask each of us today. Are we ready to let our guards down and be fools for Him? Are we ready to do things that are totally radical, that seem foolish to others if God asks us to?

The Bible says, God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). The moment we are wise in our own understanding, we cannot submit to the will of God and we cannot be used by Him.

All that we plan with our own wisdom will surely fail.

Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me' (Isaiah 47:10b).

Now here's the thing. When we agree to submit to God's wisdom, we are actually agreeing to obey His every command and if you've been reading your Bible, you'd know that God's commands aren't always the 'proper' thing to do. In fact, sometimes they seem downright foolish!

God asked some people to do some pretty absurd things.

Take for example Noah. How did this old man (the Bible tells us that he was 500+ years) dare to build such a massive ark? Just FYI, the ark was taller than a 3-story building and had a deck area the size of 36 lawn tennis courts. Plus, in those days, the earth was watered by dew and the people hadn't ever experienced rain. So how in the world was he expecting it to rain? Noah was definitely a mad man!

What about Hosea? God told him to take a prostitute as a wife. No matter how in tune he was with God, a prophet marrying a prostitute is just outrageous! But Hosea never once questioned God.

The Bible says, When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son (Hosea 1:2-3). What amazing obedience!

Then there's King Jehoshaphat who went to war with an army led by the temple choir, David who faced a fully armed giant with only a sling and pebbles and Joshua who marched around the city of Jericho to bring its walls down! They didn't know the beautiful outcome from the beginning. All they had was the assurance in their God, Yahweh.

Today we have that assurance too. But are we willing to put our reputations on the line and defy all logic just do the will of God? I believe that our love for Jesus, and our faith in His ability to do more than we can ever imagine will drive us to do the mighty exploits He has called us to do.