1 Corinthians3:18
"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise."
James 1:10
"... And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. ... should be proud because
being rich should make them humble. Rich people will wither like flowers ..."
Mark 13:11
" But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost."
Jeremiah 50:35,36
""A sword against the Chaldeans," declares the LORD, "And against the inhabitants of Babylon And against her officials and her wise men! 36"A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become fools! A sword against her mighty men, and they will be shattered! 37"A sword against their horses and against their chariots And against all the foreigners who are in the midst of her, And they will become women! A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!…"
Isaiah 2:11
"Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty. 11The proud look of man will be abased And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. 12For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased.…"
Zephaniah 3:12
"But I will leave within you the meek and humble. ... I will leave a meek and humble people
among you, and they will take refuge in the name of Yahweh. ..."
1 Peter 3:4
" But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
1 Corinthians 1:27
"For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,…"
Matthew 13:13
"Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
"and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness"
Numbers 22:29-31
"Then Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now." 30The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?" And he said, "No." 31Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground.…"
I reiterate...
"Then...the LORD opened the eyes..."
Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey..."nuff said.
The "mysterious phenomenon" is this, one can stare at this, read it, meditate on it, rub the words all over countenances till the cows come home and still not "get it" unless it is "given by grace" to "get it"...TRULY AMA-A-A-A-A-A-ZING!
No explanation will suffice, no Bible study shall avail, no "by hearing" sans' faith will be of any consequence, no works or deeds good enough, no rationale nor justification before a high tribunal can aquit.
John (:24-41
"24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said,[[url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John 9#fen-NIV-26480a]a[/url]] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
Let us ask ourselves honestly...do we indeed see clearly?
Or simply go along to get along, putting the proverbial "cart before the horse" while pretending to?