6 My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.”
1 “Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something alien.
21 “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.’”
4 And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.” 7 “But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
23 Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. 24 The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him.
3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. 5 A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength.
“I will honor My Word, and I will honor those who give My Word the sacred preeminence it deserves. My Word shall never return void. It shall accomplish My purposes.” Frances J. Roberts
“Meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice. Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God.” J. I. Packer
“Simple assent to the truth of the Word is but an act of the understanding. Reprobates and devils may exercise this, but justifying faith takes its seat both in the understanding and the will. The promises of God call for an act of the will to embrace and receive it. Therefore, he who only notionally knows the promise, and speculatively assents to the truth of it, without clinging to it, and embracing it, does not believe to the saving of the soul.” William Gurnall
“If there were one piece of advice, one bit of encouragement, that I could give you, that would be: know God’s word for yourself and have it memorized. Take those Scriptures that you read and take the time to get them deep and embedded into your heart and your mind. Because here’s what happens in life: you hit a moment of crisis. Many times, it can come out of the blue. It’s not something that you always get a forewarning or impression that something’s coming. And what will hold you, and what held me on that darkest day, are God’s word and His promises.” Cathe Laurie
“Be willing to show others how they can communicate personally with God through His Word by His Spirit and ‘hear from heaven’ themselves – this is the greatest blessing you can ever give to another human being. God is uniquely personal and desires for each one of us to approach Him individually and humbly. Each of us are simply beggars sharing with other beggars where to get bread.” BHY
“The brilliance of man cannot appreciate the plan of God (Isaiah 55:8-9). It is not self-confident erudition but self-effacing faith that allows one to enter the narrow way.” Bible Knowledge Commentary
“Faith and freedom are never more than one generation away from extinction. We have to be intentional about being sure our children, and our children’s children, will hear the Word of God like we have heard it. We don’t pass it on to our children through our bloodstream; it’s not a genetic relationship. It must be fought for. It must be protected. It must be held onto. You must not veer from it or deviate from it no matter what culture tells you. If it is in opposition to the Word of God, you hold onto the Word of God. His Word will never fail. Heaven and earth will pass away, but we are told God’s Word will never pass away. It is eternal. It is God-breathed. We can bank on it. Live it. Know it. Understand it. Share it.” Cathe Laurie
“Faith finds that Christ has made full payment to the justice of God having poured out His blood to death upon the cross. All of His previous acts of humiliation were but preparatory to this. He was born to die; He was sent into the world as a lamb bound with the bonds of an irreversible decree as a sacrifice. There is no redemption but by His blood. Christ did not redeem and save poor souls by sitting in majesty on His heavenly throne, but by hanging on the shameful cross, under the tormenting hand of man’s fury and God’s just wrath. And therefore, the poor soul that would have pardon of sin, is directed to place its faith not only on Christ, but on a bleeding Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. Believing implies a union of the soul to Christ with full trust and reliance.” William Gurnall
“Believe God’s Word and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your Rock is Christ, and it is not the Rock which ebbs and flows, but your sea.” Samuel Rutherford
“The One who is the Word wants to have a word with you. To neglect the only Voice that calms waves is to invite internal chaos. One day, either this world is going to blow apart, or your own world is going to blow apart, and the only way you’re going survive is if you’ve set time apart to let God’s Spirit blow in. Apathy for God’s Word leads to atrophy of a soul.” Ann Voskamp