“Darkly, Quickly"

  "Darkly, Quickly"

    How does a Being who knows everything relate to beings who know, in relative terms, next to nothing?  

    "His understanding is infinite… "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (Psalm 147:5; I Corinthians 8:2).

    The answer is that God condescends to speak to us in terms we can understand.  He reveals Himself in creation, and more pointedly, in Scripture to declare who He is, who we are, and how we live in the mode and manner He defines as authentic life.  One suspects that the Lord must greatly simplify the truths of reality in order to presently communicate in a manner we can comprehend.  This may account for some of the Biblical issues upon which genuine and well meaning Christians differ as we seek to interpret the Word of God.  We are all attempting, as aided by the Holy Spirit, to understand the Truth of an infinite Mind while we still "see through a glass darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12).  We can fathom enough to know the Lord and walk with Him faithfully.  Beyond that, things get "darkly", quickly.  "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29).

    It's good to seek as much knowledge as possible, particularly the truths of God's Word.  "With all thy getting, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7).  As the end of such pursuit, however, we will still in this lifetime know nothing yet as we ought to know.  An eternal Being, possessed of an infinite mind, seeks to communicate with beings whose primary frame of reference involves time and space.  Salvation in Christ births us into the reality of eternity, assuring us that, as the old hymn proclaims, We shall understand it better by and by".  We shall, but for now, the best and brightest among us still "see through a glass darkly".  Remembering our universal human limitation, and more importantly, the limitless mind of God, goes far in establishing and maintaining the proper frame of heart whereby we relate to the Lord and to people in the humility that knows how much we don't know.

"Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?  Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me.  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?   Declare, if thou hast understanding.  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?"

(Job 38:2-5)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

(Proverbs 15:1)

   

   L