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The Eye of The Beholder

                 This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:2-3)

 

Oh boy! Things I don’t know! The mysteries of the universe at my fingertips! Visions of the future! Wisdom to match that of Solomon (which means all my problems are solved)!

Yes, all of those would be cool, and all of those might be included in “great and unsearchable things you do not know,” but first, there’s the question of the definition of “knowing.” There’s head knowledge, and there’s experiential knowledge.

Head knowledge is easy. Two plus two equals four (in a decimal numbering system – don’t get your mind twisted here.) You might be able to quote the verse above (in some translation) from memory. Experiential knowledge is deeper. You might say that signing and holding a marriage certificate is head knowledge. You are legally married. Intercourse and struggling through living together for 50 years or more is experiential knowledge. Neither is complete without the other.

Generally speaking; however, the two don’t tend to balance as well as they should. We study the Bible faithfully for years without it changing our lives, and our lives can be changed without our even recognizing it or understanding why.

So when God says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know,” is he talking about head knowledge? Or experiential knowledge? The answer is, “Both,” but sometimes more one than the other – and rather than trivializing either, we should discern which are from God, and recognize them both as gifts from God. We may be misled about their source. We may be misled about their meaning or importance, but neither is inherently bad.

As an example, we’re all likely to have heard and have it established as good head knowledge that God loves us. That doesn’t mean we’ve all had or recognized the same experience of that love. Something that comes to mind is that the person who has never seen him/herself as unlovable can’t experience the depths of the love of God as He loves the unlovable person anyway. It takes a different level of experience to destroy the “Unlovable” stronghold.

The goal is for head knowledge and experiential knowledge to be united, but the point for today’s discussion is that we shouldn’t build a box in which to keep the knowledge God gives us, excluding anything that doesn’t fit without prayerful consideration. Chances are good that the “little” experiential knowledge is at least as important as the impressive things we think of as “great and unsearchable” things. What is great and unsearchable is in the eye of the beholder.

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