Hurry, hurry, hurry! My mornings are insane! I leave for work at 6am, which has cut my time in the morning in half. I feel like most of the time I’m posting things from my devotional readings at Skip Moen’s site. Sigh. Sorry! This morning the post I read asked a question about knowing God. Well, first it explained that knowing God isn’t about knowing Him in my head; it’s not doctrine. It’s about empathy. Do I feel His heart-wrenching pain over the betrayal and suffering of His beloved Israel? Do I feel His anguish over the prodigal children that have wandered from His protective care? Do I feel His agony as He allows punishment to come to the ones He loves? I’ve never thought of knowing God like that. And, sadly, if that is the measure by which I know God, then I don’t know Him much at all. I can’t comprehend His love for me, nor can I empathize with the way He feels about His people as a whole. I can in small ways, I suppose. But it’s not a regular occurrence. And, in some ways, it’s scary to think of what it would be like to truly feel as He feels. It would seem to be a gaping wound that refuses to heal. Perhaps that’s part of the fear of the Lord. To truly know Him would be brutal in some ways. But if I understand His sorrow and longing, then perhaps I can also understand His love. You can read Skip’s article, “Yada, Yada, Yada (pt 1)” here.
We so often talk about God knowing everything in advance, exactly what will happen and when, but we often don’t follow that to its logical (or rather not-so-logical) conclusion: if God is never wrong and He knows everything I will do in advance, then I have no choice because if I were to choose then I might choose differently and then He’d be wrong. Also, if He knows it already, it must be true, it must happen, or He is wrong. We had this discussion a while ago. I think of God’s knowledge of me as me walking on a branch of a tree. Every choice takes me to a new branch in an ever-expanding tree. God sees the entire tree, all the branches, even the ones I don’t walk down. It’s much easier to see than to explain. Anyhow, this post (read it here) is really interesting and it also sparked a rather interesting (and sometimes, heated) debate! Check it out!
Since I’m running late this morning and in light of the new school year starting, I’m posting a link to Skip Moen’s daily word post. It’s, appropriately, about enlightenment, the relative worth (or lack thereof) of knowledge, and the importance of application. Have fun! If you’re feeling (I can’t think of the word, but it’s a little like “ready to debate”) this morning, read the comments of his previous day’s post. It’s very interesting.
Mark 9:22b-24 … But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, ” ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ”I do believe; help my unbelief.” I am so much like this boy’s father. I believe in my mind. I know all things are possible. However, translating my head knowledge into action is often quite difficult. This has been especially apparent recently with all the craziness surrounding my new job. I know that God has always been faithful in the past, yet I struggle not to freak out wondering if or how He’ll come through again in this situation. ”Silly rabbit!” In my honesty, my cry is the same as this father’s, “I do believe! Help my unbelief!” Seems like it would be contradictory, but there’s a huge gap between head knowledge and acting on that knowledge. I may know the bridge is sound because everyone tells me it is, but I truly believe them if I step out onto it and walk across. One step at a time. (Read Skip Moen’s post on this verse)
From Skip Moen’s post at Today’s Word: An African bishop once commented on the Church in America. “I never knew you could do so much without God.” I wonder if Hosea wouldn’t say the same thing. Now I am sure you are going to ask, “But what about Billy Graham? What about Mother Teresa? What about my friends or my pastor? They don’t keep Torah. Are you saying that they don’t belong to God’s kingdom?” No, I am not saying that. Neither is Hosea. What I am saying is what Hosea says. If those who call themselves by His name continue to live in disobedience to His instructions once they know what He requires, then they are on very dangerous ground. There are sins of ignorance. They do not damage our relationship with the Father until we realize they are sins. Then we have to do something about them. Once you know, you’re stuck. Welcome to the mud! Now life is going to get a lot more messy. My greatest concern is for those who refuse to consider rethinking the foundations. It is one thing to be unconvinced. It is quite another to reject the consideration. Hosea speaks to those who should have known better. There are so many today who don’t know because no one has taught them. Those who do know are obligated to live according to their understanding, and to help others see the Way by the way they live. Wow! This is only part of the post, but it really stuck out to me. There were a couple of interesting points: 1. The statement by the African bishop is scary! How much do we do without God and His direction? We do a lot of good things, but how often do we do them on our own initiative instead of watching God? The history of the Christian church is riddled with godless men and women in positions of leadership within the church (okay, really mostly men that I know of because women weren’t allowed positions of leadership). They acted in ways that I can’t imagine God smiling upon (remember the Inquisition?). But they were the leaders of the church. How often does that continue today? Not the Inquisition, the church acting on its own. 2. Sins of ignorance. I always wondered how someone could be held accountable for something they didn’t even realize was wrong. It’s like me punishing my son for something he didn’t know not to do. I believe it’s only fair to give a warning so that the next time he knows. This point goes right along with my next point. 3. You are responsible for what you know. Once I know the rules, I am responsible to play by the rules. Everyone knows the saying, “ignorance is bliss,” and in some ways that’s true (although sometimes the laws of physics hold us accountable even if we’re ignorant). So, that made me think. I know a very rudimentary amount of Old Testament law. And, if Skip’s teachings are true, much of the Old Testament is still relevant today. So, what I do know I am responsible to obey. But that still begs the question. How much? We don’t have to follow the sacrificial system because of Jesus, but if that’s obsolete, what about the other laws about multi-fiber clothing and pork and piercings and tattoos? How can one apply and the other not? Sigh. Anyway, interesting post!
1 Corinthians 1:19-20 As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense. It’s amazing what we know because of recent advances in technology and science. There’s no doubt that it’s answered a lot of questions and shed light on some great mysteries. But, no matter how much we seem to know, every generation discovers something else that they can’t explain. I think God’s up there laughing when we think we know so much. Then He mixes things up just to see our amazement and watch us scramble to try and explain something with science and knowledge that can only be explained by God. For example, there’s a guy at the church where I lead worship and he’s been legally blind his whole life. Several weeks ago his eyesight was healed. He can see perfectly. No surgery, no contact lenses or glasses. Perfect vision. I’d like to see science and human wisdom explain that! There are a lot of amazing things we’ve discovered and figured out. Each one reminds me how fascinating God’s imagination is and how vastly huge the depths of Him mind must be. My knowledge seems like a drop in the bucket in comparison.
Daniel 2: 29-30 “While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. He who reveals secrets has shown you what is going to happen. And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart…” Nebuchadnezzar had demanded that his wise men, which included Daniel, tell him what his dream was and what it meant. When the other wise men couldn’t do it (being mere mortals and not believing in God) Nebuchadnezzar ordered them all killed. Daniel though, goes to the man in charge of killing everyone and, after asking for a day to pray and ask God about it, asks to be taken to the king to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream. Once there he does tell the king his dream, but he acknowledges that it’s not because he’s any better or wiser that he knows what it is. He gives the credit to God. He also says that God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to understand what he was thinking about, what was in his heart. In the same way, God wants us to understand Him, too. God answered Daniel’s prayers for wisdom and understanding and protected Him from being executed with the wise men. But Daniel makes the important point that his knowledge is from God and that God wants him to understand. God isn’t keeping information about Himself and His will a secret. He reveals it when the time is right because He wants us to be in the center of His will. And that’s a good thing!