A Humbling Thought

Humanity has the ability for self-evaluation and thought.  We are the only creatures that walk the face of the earth that can say to themselves "I think about this. . ., but do I really agree with what I'm thinking?"  This is quite an amazing reality:  that we have the capacity to think, but then also remove ourselves enough to think about those thoughts as well!  Do you follow what I mean?  We don't just think, but we think about thinking!  I am thoroughly confusing you yet?  Just pause for a second and realize that even confusion is an expression of thought, just jumbled up thoughts.

So why am I talking about this?  Because we tend to forget that as "thinking animals" we see ourselves as the top of the food chain; we perceive that we are at the pinnacle of the created order and as such we find it appropriate for us to think that our abilities to reason are the means through which we must find our guidance.  We too often look to ourselves for our own direction.

Incredible, isn't it, that God would take the risk of creating something that has the ability for self-evaluation, and independant thought, and that that capacity could be used to deny the very existence of the One who created them in the first place.  Sad but true.

We need to be reminded of something here:  Though we think, and we need to utilize the rational faculties that reside within us, we also need to remember our limitations.  There needs to be a healthy injection of humility into us, and the way we begin is to find ourselves listening to God's perspective on us.

In Job 38 the Lord is speaking to a man who had forgotten his place and was thinking in ways that were not humbly acknowledging his limitations.  This is a snippet of what God said to him:  "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?  Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.  Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?  Tell me, if you understand.  Who marked off its dimensions?  Surely you know!  Who stretched a measuring line across it?  On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone--while the morning star sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?"  God concludes His thoughts at the end of chapter 39 when He says: "Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south?  Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?"

The man the Lord was addressing was Job, and Job's response to God's scathing commentary should be our example as well: "I am unworthy--how can I reply to you?  I put my hand over my mouth. . .I will say no more."

It is a humbling thought to realize that with all our great ability to think, we do not even begin to understand the depths of wisdom in our God.  The fact that we do not even begin to know makes it difficult because we naturally wrestle with things we do know.  But Job realized that his wisdom was just not cutting it, and that He needed to shut up and listen and be taught by One who knew much better than he.

Maybe we need to stop, shut up, and listen to the One who knows much better too.

BT