THE UNKNOWN

 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.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

                This morning in my devotions I read a short article from C.S. Lewis about life in the universe outside of earth. It reminded me that there are so many things that I don’t know, and that is okay.

                When I think of the things I don’t know, they seem to fall into three categories; things I don’t know but could learn about, things no one knows but could be discovered, and things no one knows and never will. The first and second category we are very familiar with. I don’t know how to play the piano, but I could learn. We don’t know how to cure cancer, but we may discover how. It is the third category that intrigues me, things no one knows and never will.

                I believe that one of the ways that God has created humanity in His own image is our curiosity. Although other animals have a basic level of curiosity, we go far beyond that. We don’t just want to know how something works, but why do they work the way they do. We are constantly looking for answers. This is both a learned and an innate behavior. Children learn about the world through curiosity. No one has to teach them to be curious, they just are. But we shape and intensify that curiosity through intentional learning. We pose questions and then invite others to discover the answer. In this way we go beyond the simple, “what is this”, to the more complex, “how does this work” or “why does this exist.”

                God gave us this gift of curiosity to lead us to discover Him. As God said through the prophet Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)) God has placed clues in His creation that are intended to pique our curiosity and to get us to ask the question, who is behind all of this? As the Psalmist says in Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Paul also expresses this idea in Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

                God has given us this gift of curiosity so that we would explore our world and eventually discover the truth about Him. But God has placed limits on our ability to find answers. He has reserved certain mysteries for Himself. He may reveal these to us in eternity, and He may not. Instead, He asks us to trust Him with the things we don’t know and don’t understand.

                Agur put this limit to our understanding in poetic form. “There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.” Proverbs 30:18-19 (NIV)

                There are many things too amazing for me, that I do not understand. I don’t understand the Trinity; that God is one, yet exists in three persons. I don’t know how Jesus can be fully God and fully human at the same time. I don’t know why God would allow a 13-year-old boy to die of cancer and let a cigar smoking, whisky drinking man live to be 100. I don’t know if there is life on other planets. I don’t know what happens when you get to the end of the universe, or even if you can. I don’t know what eternity is like. I don’t really know what heaven or hell are like. I don’t know why earth is the only planet in our galaxy (as far as we know) that has life on it. I can’t explain the problem of pain, nor can I explain the existence of beauty. I don’t know why, given the exact same evidence, some people turn toward God and others turn away from God.

                There are many things that I don’t know, and I’m okay with that. At this point in my life, I can accept that some things I could know I won’t. More importantly, I can accept that there are some things that no one can ever really know; some things that are beyond our ability to comprehend. When I hit the wall of the unknown, I fall back on one thing I do know. I can trust God with the unknown.

“For 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.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)