MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

Jer. 9:23-24

 

"This is what the LORD says: 'Let not the wise man

boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength

or the rich man boast of his riches,

but let him who boasts boast about this:

that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD . . ."

 

          One of my teachers once stated that the real difference between an educated and an uneducated person is that an educated person is aware of how much he doesn't know.  Surely this is as true of Christian education as it is of secular education.  The truth of the matter is that no person will ever arrive at a full knowledge of God by means of intellectual pursuit.  One can and should, however, be led by his studies to an acknowledgement of this simple fact:  God is too great, too wise, to immense, too holy, too faithful, and too powerful to be fully grasped.  The finite mind, try though it may, will never fathom the infinite and eternal God. 

 

          This should be no surprise.  God Himself told us that this is so.  Isa. 55:8-9 plainly says: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."    Even though we are "born from above," still we have eyes that see only in part.  Paul put it this way:  "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor. 13:12). 

 

          The Christian life, in the final analysis, is not knowing but trusting.  It is not understanding, it is walking by faith when we lack understanding.  "The righteous," wrote Habbakuk, "shall live by faith" (Hab. 2:4).  Paul wrote, "We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).  The writer of Proverbs instructs us to: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" (Prov. 3:5-6).

 

          Is it important to thoroughly study the Word of God, then?  Is there value in Christian education?  Absolutely!  It is only through study that we come to see and appreciate God's immeasurable unattainable greatness.  Finally, though, we must remember that the objective of our study is not to know about God, but to know God.  Jesus made this remark to the Jews who opposed Him:  "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me . . ." (Jn. 5:39).   Knowing God is the only true wisdom, and the focus of all true learning.

 

Pastor Keith Andrews