Is Reasoning a Lost Art?

I’d like to talk about a simple, yet profound topic today: reasoning.

Some of us are familiar with a famous verse in the Bible”

“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’” (Isaiah 1:18)

Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t say, “Come let us feel stuff together…”? “Come let us explore our emotions together”?

It’s not because God doesn’t care about our feelings. He definitely does.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

…and…

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15)

So, God DOES care about our feelings.

So why, then, does HE say, “Come REASON together with Me” in Isaiah 1:18 instead of “Lets stew in our emotions together”?

Because He MADE us and He understands how HE designed us to function in a healthy manner!

Our enemy, the devil, understands this because he watched God make people. So, he inspires the world (which is under his sway according to 1 John 5:19) to incite our emotions.

And, he tempts us to live by our emotions rather than through reasoning.

You know, it really doesn’t matter how smart we are. We can have super high I.Q.’s and still make poor decisions if we allow our emotions to run away with us. Our emotions are not logical.

This is why satan tempts people to do things to us, reject us, demean us…hurt us in so many ways. This is why he enjoys political obsessions. He knows that he can control the emotions of his unsuspecting human victims and they will not be able to easily REASON through things.

When we fall for this we barely resemble our God in Whose image we Christians are being restored.

We originally looked like Him:

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

That was lost by Adam in the Garden but in Christ it can be regained.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29)

…and…

“And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” (1 Corinthians 15:49)

…and…

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

In short, God is fixing what Mankind broke, one humble person at a time, one encounter at a time.

God is REASONABLE. By this I mean He is the source of sound thinking and enjoys reasoning with us.

“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 1:18a)

The Hebrew word translated in to “reason together” in the English means we get to practice thinking together with God Himself and to have companionship with Him. It ties separate things together.

It sounds a lot like God, walking with Man in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden, doesn’t it?

This ability to reason at all is a gift from God. The right to reason with God is an even more incredible gift afforded only to those created in His image and likeness – never to any of the lower animals.

What we are describing here is the opportunity to experience real fellowship with God.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”(1John 1:1-3)

The Apostle John tells us these things for a purpose:

“And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” (1 John 1:4)

The Holy Spirit, through John, wanted us to know that we can fellowship with, have companionship with…reason with God. Our enemy, the devil, wishes we never will.

This is written in hopes that you will deny satan this and harvest the joy of reasoning with God.

You know, whenever two sit and reason together, they share themselves with one another. When one of us is a fallible human being and in process of being completed and the other is God, infallible and the Completer we can only benefit from exercising this gift from God.

May we all enjoy this gift as our new normal!

Amen!

© June 8, 2023

Pastor Mike McInerney

Mike McInerney Ministries, Inc.

Decatur, Texas

(For use with permission)