“For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)
In 1709 Alexander Pope
(1688-1744) wrote in his, “An Essay on Criticism” the following words.
"A little learning is a
dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow
draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."
An explanation was provided
for this essay as follows:
“The modern meaning
translates to mean that people with a small amount of knowledge often think
that they have more 'expertise' than they really do. Sometimes, when this perceived
'expertise' translates into action, it can result in unpredictable or even
tragic consequences.”
I wonder how many teachers who
have spent years studying in their field of expertise have experienced a
student who thinks they now know more than the teacher. Maybe a first year med
student thinking they can practice medicine or a first year law student who
thinks they’re ready to hang their shingle out.
I’ve seen this so often from
new Christians. They’re still drinking milk, but think they’re ready for meat.
Maybe this is why Paul told Timothy to not permit a novice to hold the office
of pastor.
“Not a novice, lest being
lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” (1Timothy
3:6)
There’s one thing a Christian
needs to be very careful about in studying the Bible. It is imperative that
he/she not allow “head knowledge” to over-ride the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
For example:
I may have the mechanics down
in playing checkers, but if I don’t understand the game of checkers, I really
don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just moving pieces around, hoping something will
work.
I’ve seen some people give
the Hebrew or Greek word for a Scripture passage, quote from their favorite
Bible teacher, supply several supportive verses and still not get the point.
None of these things are necessarily wrong, so what’s the problem?
The problem is sometimes we
forget that God the Holy Spirit is our teacher. We forget that we need to
honestly ask His guidance in understanding what He wants us to know at
that point in time. We need to ask for humility and shy away from pride that
does nothing more than puff up our ego. We need to accept that the Lord will
lead us in knowing His Word at His pleasure.
After submitting our will to
the Teacher, the Holy Spirit, we should keep an open mind, and wait for His
revealing of the “whole picture.” What do I mean by the “whole picture?” I’ve
given this example before, but this explains what I’m saying:
A painting is hanging on the
wall. We are blindfolded and led up to it and told to place our face right up
against it. The blindfold is removed. Then we are told to state what is in the
painting. All we can see, being so close, is a leaf on a tree, so we conclude
the painting is about trees. However, when we step back we can see that the
painting is of a town with many buildings, a park, a lake and people. All we
saw though was one tree in the park, so we concluded it was about trees. We
didn’t see the “whole picture.”
Understanding the Bible is
like that. As God the Holy Spirit walks through the Scriptures with us each
day, we see a little more and a little more and a little more. We’ll never see
the “whole picture” though, because only God knows what is in the “whole
picture.” Remember the verse above?
“For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)
As we say in the country,
here is where we should not “get above our raising” or “get too big for our
britches.” It’s very tempting to “get on our high horse,” but that is not
advisable. Believe me, the Lord knows how to keep us humble, so why not just
try to remain humble? (Remember the “woodshed.”)
I wrote an article recently
called “Does God Pick And Choose?” It mentioned the Arminian view and Calvinist
view of Scripture. My conclusion was that there are some things that only God
understands. In other words, only God can see the “whole picture” of some
things we just aren’t capable of understanding in this life.
This is where we need to be
in our spiritual life as a Christian. We want to learn as much as the Lord will
teach us, but only in His time. He spent forty years training Moses before He
sent him to Egypt to free His people. The Apostle Paul, as Saul, was trained by
the greatest teacher of his time, Gamaliel, but Jesus still had to spend three
years personally training him as God’s missionary to the Gentiles.
God will train us in His
time, in His way and when we’re ready, He will lead us into our work for Him.
But let us never forget, He is the teacher and we are the student.
Never be argumentative about
God’s word, the Bible. This never accomplishes anything and only shows the immaturity
of the one who chooses to argue. Yes, I get this occasionally, but I will not
be drawn in to some else’s chicken fight. It just goes to “file 13” and is
never thought of again.
I find in my own life that I
am constantly learning from others, and that is good. We need to learn from
each other, but search the Scriptures as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11) to see if
what is being taught is true. Only the Lord has all the answers. Ask Him to
show us the Truth, and be humble when understanding it.
We live in a time when those
with a little knowledge become quite arrogant and
sometimes militant in their
attitude toward others. Even some Christians are guilty of this. That is most
unfortunate. Why? Because it shows immaturity. It shows a believer not in fellowship
with the Lord as he/she should be. It shows someone who needs prayer because
they’re allowing pride to delay real spiritual growth.
None of us should pride
ourselves on what little Bible we think
we know. If we allow ourselves to get to that point, we are not growing as a
Christian should. To the contrary, the more we learn, the more humble we should
become. As the greatness of our God becomes more clear so does our unworthiness
before Him.
If you’ve never read the book
of Job please do so. Most of us know the story, and it is a true story by the
way. Job was a good man. He feared God, had complete integrity, and was the
finest man in all the earth. We all know about Satan coming before God and God
allowing Satan to test Job, but notice the very beginning of God and Satan’s
conversion.
God said, “Where have you
come from?”
Satan replied, “I have been
going back and forth across the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”
Then God says to Satan, “Have
you noticed my servant Job …?”
God is the one who first
brought up the subject of Job. Now why did God do that? Was it really because
Job was such a great guy, or was there another reason?
In my opinion, after
considering the entire book of Job, I believe God not only had a point to prove
to Satan, but also to Job. Job had a “pride” problem. Now he most certainly was
a great man and feared God, but he also was proud of his being such a good guy.
I picture him somewhat like the Ephesian church Jesus addresses in Revelation
2:1-7.
All throughout the book, Job
is calling upon God to defend his good stand before God to his three friends.
God does vindicate Job in the end, but first of all He must address Job’s pride.
Take particular note of chapters 38-42, the conversation between God and Job.
“Then the LORD answered Job
from the whirlwind:
“Who is this that questions
my wisdom
with such ignorant words?
Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions
for you,
and you must answer them.
“Where were you when I laid
the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the
surveying line?
What supports its
foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
as the morning stars sang
together
and all the angels shouted
for joy? (Job 38:1-7 NLT)
“Where does light come from,
and where does darkness go?
Can you take each to its
home?
Do you know how to get there?
But of course you know all
this!
For you were born before it
was all created,
and you are so very
experienced!” (Job 38:19-21 NLT)
“Then the LORD said to Job,
“Do you still want to argue
with the Almighty?
You are God’s critic, but do
you have the answers?” (Job 40:1 NLT)
None of us have all the
answers. Only God is all knowing and all powerful. We demean ourselves when we
think we are so important we argue over the very words of God, the Bible. The
silver bullet that kills this kind of pride is found in 1 Corinthians 13:13.
“And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
I think of the verse we started
with (Isaiah 55:8 above) and I am reminded of the ants. I sit on a rock and
watch the ants scurry along the ground just working away. I can see everything
all around them, but they are only aware of the exact spot they are in and what
they are doing at that moment. They are not aware of, and certainly do not
understand the complexities of my world. The same is true with us. We are like
the ants. As God looks down upon us, we only understand our little world, but
never all the complexities of His. He gives us a glimpse now and then, but only
when we see Him face to face will we understand, but even then, not all.
“For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
