Church broke out early this weekend. We keep trying to tell the Holy Spirit that it isn't Sunday yet but you know Him— He's got His own agenda.
The subject was popping up from several points on the compass, but in brief it boils down to this: as the intelligentsia of the modern era we have zero tolerance for what is not known, for what is not understood. That's why we have research grants and the National Endowment for the Arts. Or, as the raving French peasants of Beauty and the Beast put it so elegantly, “We don't like/ What we don't/ Understand/ In fact it scares us.” If we don't “get” something we have a horrible tendency to do any one of a number of the following:
1. We try to explain it by or adapt it to fit what we do know, which may or may not have any bearing on the current subject.
2. We invent something to fill the dead air, either a down-right lie, a variation on the truth, a hodge-podge of “almosts”, or a distraction that hopes to buy us time.
3. We discuss it to death, going in circles until the various camps are established and we can get down to the business of out-and-out war.
4. We leave it alone, whether it's critical or not.
This applies to my daily life in this way: there are many, many, many things I do not understand. But the longer I live in this fallen world, and the more I read the Word, the more I come to believe that Jesus was right— about everything. And whether I agree with Him or not, whether I understand Him or not, if I act as if that hypothesis is true, eventually all the pieces fit. And will fit. If I don't like what He says, I can't explain it away. I have to trust that “Because I said so” is good enough for now. I have to believe that if it's critical for me to act on something this very minute, He'll make sure I get it enough to act. After all, progressive revelation per force takes a linear amount of time. We can't know it all at once, even if there is six thousand year's worth of history to inform us and back up our assumptions. We weren't there. People could be wrong. Information is not God.
Yahweh is God. And He knows everything. So I don't have to.
.jpg){kind=link}
3 comments:
And He is ever faithful to reveal His truth to us when we ask....I am blessed and comforted to know that His truth is more important to Him than it is to us, and He wants us to know it more than we want to know it ourselves.
Not only do I love that God knows so much more than I ever will or can, but I love the implications that presents. I don't HAVE to try and figure everything out. All I am told and called to do is find out what Jesus says and do it. Obey. That's it. Woah man. Talk about a release of pressure. I can handle reading, listening, and obeying. I am okay with that!
A very entertaining blog. Keep up the good work. A couple thoughts of my own the on the subject. I believe we as a culture have the wrong focus on knowledge. Knowledge itself is not wrong or not to be desired. However what we do with that knowledge is up to us. For instance the tower of Babel was wrong to be built because the peoples focus was on being equal with God. Was God really worried about people reaching the heavens with that tower? No, but the focus was wrong because they wanted to "make a name for themselves." I don't believe that it is wrong for us to want to know how things work and create things because that is what God created us to do. God created us in His image and likeness. I believe He gave us an inquisitive nature to learn and gain knowledge. "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have domimion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living that moves on the earth." Gen. 1:28 If God gave us the earth to rule over and manage then we have to strive to learn as much about it as possible. Now what we do with that knowledge is what distinguishes us. Do we try and challenge God with it? Or do we use it to rule and manage to earth and realize the wonder of Gods creation while striving to learn something new about it? My whole point being it's not so much how much we know but how we use that knowledge and realize that no matter how much knowledge we have there is always something more to learn.
Post a Comment