Psalm 14:1
14 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
During my final semester of college I needed one more 400 level course in history to complete my major and graduate. I found this out late in the registration process so the only class open was Karl Marx History. Oh joy!
The professor for the class was the head of the History Department, a devout atheist who openly mocked Christianity. In one of our first assignments we were asked to write on how Marx proved that belief in God was oppressive and religion was just a means to control people.
I struggled with this assignment.
This was one of the first times where my faith in Jesus was being directly challenged and I didn’t have anyone to stand up for me. As I began to write the paper I decided to focus on my faith in Jesus and how my relationship with Him was not about control or oppression, but deliverance from those things. In fact, I wrote that knowing Jesus was to know FREEDOM. Marx was wrong!
I’ll be honest, I didn’t have a full grasp of what I was writing. Even though I had grown up in church I had not yet gone deeper into my relationship with Jesus, but I did the best I could. I turned in that paper with fear and trembling.
I said a simple prayer, “Lord, it’s in Your hands now.”
It didn’t take long for me to be called into my professor’s office. On his office wall was a picture of Vladimir Lenin, the well-known communist leader of the Soviet Union.
My professor wasted no time in sitting me down and calling me a fool. He said it was "christians like me" who needed "people like him" to survive in the world.
He told me that I did not follow the instructions for the assignment, and that he had every right to give me a failing grade. Thankfully, he didn’t, but he did say that he was doing me no favors because the earlier in life I found out that I was a "failure" the better.
Wow, pretty mean!
I wish I were making this story up, but it happened and it rocked me. I was left with some questions.
Was I really a fool?
Whose word should I believe?
The Word of the Lord or the word of my professor?
This took place over 25 years ago and that professor, who was already in his late elder years has likely passed away, and his words are gone.
But the Word of the Lord in Psalm 14 continues and will endure forever! I may have been called a fool for believing in God, but God has confirmed in my heart His existence time and again, and He affirms all of it in His Word that has been with us since the beginning of time.
The real fool is one who says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Lord Jesus, I know you are there. I am no fool. Thank you for making it crystal clear that you are with me. Amen
Josh Huisman is the senior pastor of New Hope Community Church in Brentwood, TN.
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