When true worship gets blended together with amusement, it yields varying types of worldliness and idolatry. In Exodus chapter 32, the children of Israel observed a “feast to the LORD” at the same time that they “rose up to play.” As men begin to grow increasingly cold and indifferent toward the Lord and His ways, they will seek ever more imaginative ways to make spiritual worship appeal to the flesh. This is often accomplished by uniting pleasure and worship. In an effort to keep people interested in the worship of God, churches add comedic relief, drama, carnal music, and a host of other worldly amusements. In doing so, the worship of God gets corrupted and becomes nothing more than idolatry or false worship.
There has never been, nor ever will be, a book like the Bible. Unfortunately, some people who desire to learn its contents simply take the wrong approach. It cannot be studied like a textbook or read like a magazine or novel. It must be approached prayerfully with the help of God’s Spirit with total dependence upon Him for illumination. According to today’s passage, an unsaved man cannot fully understand the word of God because he lacks the spiritual discernment necessary to grasp its full truths. No one can approach the Bible with a fleshly mindset; it must always be approached with faith, believing that it is truly God’s word. Only then can the student with the Spirit’s help rightly discern the things intended to be understood. An improper approach has led many people to believe the Bible, like all other books, contains contradictions and errors. God graciously affords man the necessary spiritual discernment increasing a man’s faith leading him to take God at His word. When man rejects discernment, he increases his darkness.
