It’s said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The problem is, we must start with a little before we get to a lot. And as limited humans, how do we really know when we’ve reached a lot? We can see where we’ve been, and see how we’ve grown, but the entirety of knowable information is… unknowable. What a scary thing. We not only don’t know how much we know of what can be known, we don’t even know if what we do know is enough to avoid making huge mistakes.
*Drumroll please* I give you, black and white thinking! To avoid the discomfort of admitting how little we know, and how uncertain we are even of that, many humans resort to making absolute statements about things and critiquing everything that disagrees with their current worldview, even where our knowledge and experience are limited. To avoid additional discomfort, we stop short of critiquing our own thinking, limiting our criticisms to others’ thoughts and behaviors. Being wrong, bad, being right, good. Simple. Then we share the gift of our rightness with others by letting them know where they can stop being wrong, and start being right, like us. So nice. If we’re very lucky, somewhere along the line, either experience or a person eventually disillusions us of enough of our own wrong ideas that we start to see the uncomfortable truth that we don’t know very much. If only it were a one and done kind of thing. We seem doomed to repeat this cycle in all kinds of learning. And the real rough part is that people still have to live with us while we go through the process over and over.
Jesus is pretty patient with us, thankfully. He knows our limitations. But when you’re a human, it can be hard to perfectly know when to call someone out on something (“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault just between the two of you.” Matthew 18:15), and when God might not be ready to deal with that particular issue in that person’s life yet (“love covers a multitude of sins” 1 Pet. 4:8, and “first take the plank out of your own eye” Matt. 7:5). God has a plan, based on perfectly knowing us inside and out, for our sanctification in love. So how do we get onboard with something that takes perfect omniscient knowledge and understanding mixed with unlimited love?
There’s no black and white answers, just the source. We can’t know the right path ahead of time for every situation. We can only know the One who does. We can ask God for help, and trust him to speak in our lives and the lives of the ones we care about. It’s complicated. Sometimes the answers aren’t going to be the ones we want to hear. And sometimes the answers are for someone else’s ears and heart, and we get the chance to trust that He’s working even when we’re not part of the equation. It’s hard, the “not knowing”. But one thing we can trust is that even though we aren’t capable of understanding everything right now, “He who did not spare his own Son, but graciously gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). He is giving us himself; he won’t leave us alone in all this.
Being uncertain of our own knowledge is a little less scary if we have Someone who we can be certain of. As we see and hear him answer again and again, our faith will grow. And if our faith fails us in the dark moments, we can lean on the faith of our brothers and sisters in the meantime. The living God is our firm foundation, and God is speaking directly to us.
Matthew 7:24-29
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
About the Author
Kayla is is 37. She has been married to her husband, Joel, for 17 years and she homeschools their two energetic boys. She loves stories, being out in nature, meeting interesting people, and seeing others grow in their freedom in Christ.
