Article April 10, 1995 Issue

Spiritual intelligence, not brainpower

Tony Lobl

Suppose you're a counselor to a king who has had a dream but he can't recall it. He asks you first to relate the dream and then interpret it. The Bible describes the reaction of the counselors of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, faced with just this situation. They exclaimed in horror, "There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean" (Dan. 2:10).

The king's counselors were right! No man "upon the earth," that is, no one looking to a personal, material sense of intelligence, could possibly achieve such a thing. There was, however, a man in that court who knew that he could prayerfully find an answer by turning to something other than a limited sense of intelligence. Daniel had a deep-seated trust in God's ability to reveal Himself as all-knowing. He confidently promised the king that he would tell him the interpretation, and that's exactly what happened. In his prayer of gratitude to God, Daniel said, "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his" (Dan. 2:20).

The material brain is thought of as the seat of intelligence, and is leaned on for understanding in much the same way as the king leaned on his inadequate counselors. At best, the brain is believed to have limitations. At worst, it is assumed to be malfunctioning and retarding normal activity. Yet, according to the Scriptures, God's "understanding is infinite" (ps. 147:5). Infinite intelligence is—has to be—everywhere; it must be the only intelligence genuinely operative and active. Infinite intelligence could not possibly be siphoned through a limited, material brain. It must be, and indeed is, spiritually expressed and manifested without bounds.

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