My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me… (Hosea 4:6 KJV)

Does Hosea 4:6 surprise you? I hope it does. God says His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge. Alongside prophet Hosea, Isaiah said, “Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge” (Isaiah 5:13 KJV). So, the Lord reveals an unexpectedly crucial role of knowledge in our spiritual wellbeing.

God links our wellbeing or suffering to knowledge, and the knowledge in this verse is not general knowledge but the knowledge of God. This astonishing connection is only possible because the knowledge of God in our hearts has a spiritual dimension. And there are two extremes of the spirituality of divine knowledge. On the one end of this spectrum, there is a lack of knowledge accompanied by destruction. On the opposite end of ignorance is an abundance of the knowledge of God, which comes with the fullness of God. Within these two ends of the spectrum are various degrees of knowledge with various associated levels of their wellbeing or suffering in different areas of our lives.

I am continually amazed at how the Spirit has opened my understanding to see the role of knowledge in our spiritual lives. Besides, I have not stopped praying that the Lord will open the eyes of believers to see this role also. It will not be possible to fully explain the place of the knowledge of God in our lives in this brief devotional. However, you should remember this: God is saying the amount of knowledge in our lives is already responsible for some destructions taking place in some aspects of our lives—no matter what area that might be. That is, there are some struggles and unnecessary pains we are enduring now because there are some things we do not know.

Imagine how our world has been transformed in less than 100 years of advances in scientific knowledge. If knowledge is power in natural things, it is a superpower in spiritual things. Furthermore, if ignorance kills in everyday life, it must surely do worse in spiritual matters. 

Hosea did not say God’s people perish because there are not enough theological schools or they do not read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation enough! Neither did he say we perish because we are not scientific or philosophical enough. I hope it is common knowledge to you now that we can fill our heads with the knowledge of the scriptures and be empty of the experience of the God those scriptures describe. The knowledge that brings fullness in its abundance or destruction in its lack is not mere intellectual knowledge but the knowledge of God working powerfully in the minds and hearts of His people through His Spirit.

Make it easy for the Spirit to help you, too, and spare you unnecessary struggles or suffering: fill your heart with the knowledge of the Word of God. Give your full attention to acquiring the experiential knowledge of God and living by that knowledge—get epignosis!

What was the role of knowledge in the fall of Adam and the current human rebellion against God, was it propelled by science or philosophy?

Apply the Word

According to Hosea and Isaiah’s prophecy, one way to avoid destruction in our lives is to increase the knowledge of God in our hearts. Do you care to read or study the Bible? If you honestly do not care, you need to cry out to God first to make you see why no one  cares! Grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.

Ask the Father to help you desire His Word as newborn babies.

Read & Watch

The mystery of spiritual knowledge

What is Epignosis?

The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Knowledge 

What is a Devotional?

View all Deshen Daily devotionals including today’s devotional.

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