Lack of
Knowledge

Busyness, not business. We seem to take pride in living in a fast-paced age, of thinking we multitask to accomplish all that is before us each day, to make the most of every moment. Yet, as discussed in a March 20, 2006 report from the American Psychological Association, multitasking appears more productive but the measurable result are the opposite. Busyness, not business. We seem to take pride in living in a fast-paced age, of thinking we multitask to accomplish all that is before us each day, to make the most of every moment. Yet, as discussed in a March 20, 2006 report from the American Psychological Association, multitasking appears more productive but the measurable result are the opposite. ¹
Another measurement as reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is that ‘distracted driving’ was responsible for 3,208 deaths and 315,167 injuries in 2024. ²

How is it that we get too busy to take care of what is vital to life? Not surprisingly, the Bible has several words on distracted living.

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. ³

The context of Samuel’s life is the transition from the time of the Judges in Israel to what would become the time of the kings. When Israel came out of Egypt in the Exodus, there was a central leader, a daily (and nightly) manifestation of the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant leading the way whenever they moved on but once they began occupying the land of Canaan, the tribes were scattered. They were given three annual festivals when they were all to gather together but the majority found this inconvenient and simply stayed home taking care of business. When Eli was the priest of the LORD, keeper of the Ark and God’s representative to the nation, things had deteriorated to the point where his sons profiteered from those coming before God and Eli paid no attention. No one cared for they were busy establishing their own pieces of the Promised Land. It simply didn’t matter to the nation that no one was paying attention to God. They lost the sense of what was valued by the LORD.

At the other end of the age of kings over Judah and Israel, we have two prophets addressing this same busyness taking away from the attention to the LORD. Back under the second and third kings, David and Solomon, government and more importantly worship of God had been centralized in Jerusalem and the annual festivals reinstated, the Word of the LORD taught and God again honored. But by the time of Isaiah and Hosea, Israel had fallen to the Assyrians and Judah was endangered. Several of the prophets were proclaiming the LORD’s message at this time but the response was meager:

Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst. ⁴

Hosea is even more direct in his indictment of why the LORD is rejecting this busyness:

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away. Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest. You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. ⁵

The LORD has spent the entire Age of Kings sending His Word to the Israelites and yet they have gotten too busy with everything else to have time to know the LORD. Lest we consider this to be simply an ancient Israel problem, four of the letters in Revelations contain this same problem of the busyness distracting away from the LORD. That series of letters begins with Jesus revealing to John that He, Jesus, says He wants the churches to know, to pay attention, to what He is saying to them.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. ⁶

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ⁷

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. ⁸

“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.” ⁹

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁰

Yes, the LORD has a ‘disagreement’ with us being too busy to pay attention to Him enough to know and agree with His heart for us, to not spend adequate time in that relationship with Him and to settle for knowing so little when He offers so much. Yes, there is always something else that seems to need attention but in the final analysis, when the rest of Eternity begins, we will not regret knowing Him more than all the seemingly urgent things of this world.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. ¹¹