“Call
to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty
things, which you do not know.”
- Jeremiah 33:3
I loved it because
I thought it meant that whatever knowledge I desired would be given
to me as long as I asked. If I simply approached God in faith for the
answers, any mysteries of the universe that I wondered about would be
revealed to me. This appealed to my thirst for knowledge and my
desperate desire to understand the world around me, to make sense of
everything in the Bible and how it related to life on earth so I
could wrap it all up in a neat little package.
I now realize that
there is so much more to it than that. First, how could I expect to
ever have the infinite wisdom of Someone whose thoughts are not my
thoughts and whose ways are higher than mine? And, of course, there
is more to the context of this verse, but most importantly, what is
my attitude toward seeking truth? What is my approach, and am I
understanding what it truly means to call upon Him?
Until we reach a
point of absolute humility, when we recognize that He alone is our
source of wisdom, when we see that we are ignorant in our human
limitations and we are incapable of teaching ourselves anything about
divine wisdom, only then will we sincerely and humbly call to Him in
pursuit of truth. I could memorize the Bible front to back, but if
having that knowledge is what I think makes me wise, then I really
don't have a clue. If I never experience Him in a real and meaningful
way in my life, then there is no wisdom to be found – because I
have to seek Him, not just what He can give me.
Life is not only
about learning, but also about unlearning. We have to figure out how
to get ourselves out of the way in a world that is constantly telling
us to be self-centered. I want wisdom because I want to be wise, but
I should want it because of Who offers it to me. We can know
absolutely nothing apart from God's grace, and it takes great
humility to understand and believe that.
Thus says the
Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the
mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his
riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and
knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice
and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,”
declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 9:23-24
If anything we are
learning does not open our eyes to our need for Him and our complete
dependence upon Him, then we should question our approach in the
pursuit of wisdom.
