Years ago I was trying to understand the difference between God’s knowledge, and mine. I was in a boat at the time on a small lake in Northern Minnesota. I started thinking about how a fish knows absolutely nothing about his surroundings except what he has seen in his own lake, or based on what he might see by jumping out of the water.
He may know that there is a “surface” to his lake, but he most likely doesn’t know that there is a huge variety of life beyond that surface. He wouldn’t know about lightning bugs or sparrows, house cats or giraffes, He wouldn’t know about bicycles, airplanes, trains, city streets, or how they came to be. And he certainly wouldn’t have any idea what these things were used for, much less WHO used them.
On occasion he might jump out of the water and get a glimpse of the world outside of his own, but there would not be even a hint of understanding in his little brain.
Then on another occasion I was again trying to understand this same vast difference between my understanding and God’s. This time I thought of the lowly and abhorred cockroach.
Even if a cockroach were able to hide in the space shuttle, there is no way he could know how it is designed, or how even a single button works, much less know how to fly the thing.
Neither the fish nor the cockroach is capable of comprehending these things even if he were shown a movie, or were to sit through countless seminars and everything was explained to him.
Are humans even capable of understanding spiritual things? Is it possible for us to grasp even a glimpse of what God knows and has created? How can we know what is going to happen in the future?
Here is an awesome thought! It’s found in the Bible. “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.”
1 Corinthians 2:10 - NLT.
In other words, God Himself has made it possible for us to understand what He wants us to understand, and He has shown us these “deep secrets”! We can know and understand where evil began, why it hurts so bad, and when and how it will end. We can understand why Jesus left Heaven, became a human, and then died in our place.
We know that God loves us, but for us to understand why is another thing. Why would He WANT to save us? If we are like a cockroach, why wouldn’t He just step on us and get rid of us?
Unlike the fish or the cockroach, humans have the capacity to understand what God has revealed to us. The Bible tells us that we have been created in His ”image”. But even after all of the information God has personally given to us we are told that “... No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 - NLT.
God’s plans for you and I are even better than we can dream of. We just need to believe in Him, believe in His way of doing things, and trust Him even when we don’t understand everything.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 - NLT
Dan
