Do We Need To Know?

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

Do We Need to Know?

            If you have ever watched a Sci-Fi thriller, undoubtedly you’ve heard an evil villain say to his or her accomplice, “Look at them down there.  All the people are scurrying around like little ants, like little robots.”  Is this true?  Are we scurrying around in our daily lives, oblivious of the workings around us?

            Take for example the light in your home.  You walk into a room, flip the switch and the light bulb begins to glow illuminating the room.  Where does the light come from?  “Dumb question Doug,” you might say.  I should have asked where the electricity comes from.  That question would be a little harder to answer unless we are electrical engineers.

            Another question:  When we turn on the faucet, what makes the water come out?  “Well, it comes through my water meter to the house and then out of my faucet.”  This is true, but what pressurizes it to get it to your meter?

            We don’t live in the covered wagon days when they hauled water from pumps or a stream or lit an oil lamp for light in their small cabins.  We have so many amenities in our everyday lives which make things so much easier for us that we pay them no attention.  And when someone (I’ll be that person today) asks how such things work, we can only explain a minute part of the process.

So why don’t we worry about knowing every detail of every process in our lives?  Frankly, it would drive us nuts.  Albert Einstein is considered one of the smartest men of the modern era.  Some would say he knew everything about everything.  But not so fast.  As brilliant as the man was, he had trouble finding his house off the campus of Princeton University.  To help, they painted his front door a different color to keep him from walking in on his neighbors!

I say all of this to make a point.  We know there are a lot of mechanisms put in place, developments and inventions, to make our lives easier.  How do they work?  We don’t know but we’re glad they do.  Isn’t that what some may call “taking things on faith?”

Hebrews 1:11 says, “Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  We have faith the light will come on when we flip the switch.  We have faith the microwave will heat our food when we push start.  We have faith God will answer our prayers when we lift them up to Him.

Even though we can’t see God, we have faith in His existence, His love, and His grace.  It is the unexplainable which manifests itself in what some consider unbelievable or a coincidence.  We can be assured the things we hope for are known to God, and the conviction in knowing He is the author and sustainer of our lives.

If I had the choice of having the wisdom to know every detail about everything on earth or faith in the unseen God, I’d choose God every time.  The world’s wisdom will end when your heart stops, but God’s wisdom and His presence will be forever!