THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD

God, in his foolishness, became a baby, crawled on the ground, sucked a woman’s breast, and learnt to walk and to talk.    

I knelt down in the morning to thank God for his foolishness.  He said to me: “Femi, write it down.”  So I put pen to paper and came up with this thank-you note.

God is omniscient; but he does not know everything.  Morning-by-morning, I wake up eager to tell God new things about myself.  I tell him how much I love him because my love for him is new every morning.  I tell him how grateful I am he is at the centre of my life.  I tell him my needs, my hopes, my desires for the day.  They happen to be all about him. 

I tell him these things because I know he does not know them.  I tell him because I long to share with him those things he does not know but needs to know.

Those who believe God knows everything cannot enjoy intimacy with him.  How can we talk to someone who knows what we are going to say before we say it?  What kind of conversation would we have with him?  What would be the point of it? 

But as for me, God knows me by name.  Therefore, I joke with God; share with him; confide in him.  I am able to do this because, by his grace, he has come down to my level to know where I live.  In order for God to be not only my Father, but also my friend, he took a sovereign decision to surrender provisionally certain aspects of his divinity, just for my sake.  He decided to become foolish like me.  One of the things he surrendered was his divine ability to know all things.

Jesus factor

Jesus is the full expression of this grace of God upon my life.  He is not God the Father.  He is the Son of God the Father.  Nevertheless, he is one with the Father. 

Isaiah calls him “Everlasting Father.”  He enthuses: “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6).  The wonderment in Isaiah’s magnificat is exuberant and effusive.  This son given to us is also the Father.  This child born to us is also the Mighty God.

But is Jesus God?  I say: “Yes, indeed!”  He is the God of my life.  He is the express image of the Father.  Jesus says: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9). 

God the Father calls Jesus God.  He says to him: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.  You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” (Psalm 45:6-7).  This witness of God concerning Jesus testifies conclusively to Jesus’ divinity.  John says: “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.” (1 John 5:9-12).

It took forever but, finally, at the age of forty-one, I received this witness that Jesus is my light and my salvation.  I also received his most precious gift; the Holy Spirit, who guides me into all truth.  He teaches that God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  He tells me Jesus became a man, just like me.  Unto me, a child is born.  Unto me, a son is given.

God’s humanity

Nothing declares the love of God for me more fulsomely than the humanity of Jesus’ divinity.  It makes Jesus the quintessential foolishness of God.

I know what you are thinking.  Can God, the creator of the ends of the earth, be foolish?  Yes definitely; and thank God he decided to become foolish for me.  Because I am foolish, God also became foolish so he can have a relationship with me.

God is my soul-mate.  He talks to me.  He fellowships with me.  In order to do this, the Almighty has to humble himself even for me.  You do not dangle a baby on your knees and discuss Quantum Physics with him.  But you might start making idiotic cooing sounds and might even start making stupid faces.  Soon, those around you may begin to wonder who the real baby is.

Yes, God is the El-Shaddai; the All-Sufficient.  But surely, the all-sufficiency of God must include the ability to come down to my level in order to relate to me, communicate with me and interact with me.  If God is unable to do this, then he is not God, for Jesus maintains with God, nothing shall be impossible.  Therefore, there must be foolishness to God and that foolishness must be there for my benefit.

Certainly, the wisdom of God is beyond me.  Therefore, there must be foolishness to God to accommodate my foolishness, so that the all-wise God can also be the God of foolish me.  As David says: “O God, you know so well how foolish I am.” (Psalm 69:5).

Accordingly God, in his foolishness, became a man.  He dwelt among men and some beheld his veiled glory.  God, in the person of Jesus Christ, became a baby, crawled on the ground, sucked a woman’s breast, and learnt to walk and to talk.  God, in his foolishness, increased in wisdom and in stature. (Luke 2:52).  And God, in his foolishness, was hated despised and vilified.  He died a shameful death on the cross as a man; but in his divinity, he rose from the dead with power. 

That is the real atonement.  Or, as I like to call it: the “at-one-ment.”  Not the popular misconception of Jesus washing away our sins with his blood.  Certainly not!  But God became a man.  He became one with me.  In Jesus, God became the bone of my bone and the flesh of my flesh.  And he now invites me to become like him. 

Tell Him

I can only tell you about the God I know.  I can only tell you about the God who called me, saved me from the thief and the robber, and healed me miraculously of bullet-wounds.  I can only tell you about the God whose breath is in my nostrils; who wakes me up at the break of dawn to fellowship with him.  I can definitely tell you that Jesus is Lord.

God is my friend; my very best friend.  He is wise beyond measure; but he does not know everything.  Therefore I make sure I tell him what I want him to know.  I especially make sure he knows when I have a need.  Because I used to believe God was all-knowing, I assumed he knew what I wanted without my having to ask.  But Jesus says: “Ask, and it will be given to you.” (Matthew 7:7).  James says: “You do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4:2).

Because there are things God does not know, he has the habit of asking me a lot of probing questions.  He asks: “What do you think, Femi?” (Matthew 17:25).  “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15).  “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51).  “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). 

We must not assume God knows anything: we should tell him.  We should tell him how much we love him.  We should tell him how dearly we want to inherit his kingdom and spend eternity with him.  He wants and needs to know. 

Moreover, we should recognise that there is nobody as forgiving, and therefore as forgetful, as God.  When men come to him in repentance, he declares: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34). 

Blessed be the name of the Lord.