Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? (Job 39:26 ESV)
Fear Not… Then Let God Know
I once spent most of an afternoon with Author and Theologian John Stott. In his day, he was among the most respected and read Biblically conservative pastor on the planet. While attending seminary, I was tasked with picking him up from the airport and entertaining him in the hours preceding a presentation he was making that evening.
I had a grand time. I told him about Mississippi. I told him about Michigan. I told him about my car. I told him about my wife. I told him about my dog. I told him about the books I was reading. I told him about how popular he was. I told him how much I enjoyed his most famous books. I told him… well, I told him a lot of stuff.
Years later, I was ashamed of that afternoon.
I was so interested in presenting my knowledge, that I did not take the opportunity to find out what Dr. Stott knew. I barely asked him any questions. I did not listen, other than as a preamble to making more statements myself.
And while you probably would have been more mature than I was in that particular situation, isn’t it a pretty common attitude? We mistrust what others, no matter how expert, have to say. We know what WE know, and are not amazing listeners.
And we join Job in having that non-listening attitude when it comes to what God says.
Job 39 is filled with God’s list to Job of SOME of the things that He knows, that Job does not. Job finally listens, and stops demanding that God listen to HIM.
We are not going to know everything. But God does. Our expertise in any area is a drop in the ocean of God’s knowledge.
At first, we might not like that. Our brain pride is intense. Our encyclopedic knowledge no longer fits in encyclopedia sets. But eventually, as we discover how many things we really do NOT know, it is the most comforting thing we CAN know. Trusting HIS knowledge is more reliable than trusting 17 PhDs. Trusting HIS knowledge is more helpful than trusting in all the meteorologists in the world. Trusting in HIS knowledge is more absolute than any school of philosophy ever founded.
And through His Word, His Son, and His Spirit, He tells us the great things we need to know.
Fear not, then let God know.