Read Hosea 4:1-10

The Importance of Knowledge

There is no field of study more important than religion. Algebra, biology, literature, chemistry, geometry…none of these will lead a man to the knowledge that will prepare him for eternity. “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:2-3). The knowledge of God – that is what really matters!

God’s charge against the children of Israel, as revealed through His prophet Hosea, was in part a rejection of that divine knowledge. “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1). Their refusal to listen to what God’s Law said would lead to their downfall. He said, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6).

Paul warned the church at Rome that rejecting the knowledge of God was a sure path to wickedness. He pointed to the Gentiles who had “exchanged the truth of God for the lie” (Romans 1:25) and said, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1:28).

From this we see that mere intellectual knowledge is not enough, however; there must be an application of that information to one’s life. Knowing what is right and still doing what is wrong is no better than being ignorant of the truth. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves…But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22, 25).

Are you listening to the knowledge of God? Are you applying what you hear? As you study His revelation to man, heed the words of the inspired apostle Peter: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).