Thursday, September 27, 2007

Reason and Revelation: Reason (Part 3)

Reasoning with God

While we my often delight in reasoning with other people, God Himself invites us to reason with Him.
"'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.'" (Isaiah 1:18)
In our pursuit of knowledge and understanding, God has not left us alone to our own devices, rather He has invited us into His presence that we may gain from His understanding, wisdom, and knowledge. When faced with the profundities, quandaries, and conundrums of life, God has offers to share His answers with us.

Much of understanding is perspective. When life ceases to make sense, it is most often because we have lost a proper perspective on life. When we open ourselves up to God's perspective then things that seemed hard to understand all of a sudden become more obvious and easier to grasp. Things that are murky become clear and things that are hidden become revealed.

In one of the Psalms of Asaph, the psalmist reflects on a time when he was unable to understand what was happening around him. In his own understanding he tried to understand it, but could not. He recalls, "When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end." (Psalm 73:16-17) While he tried in his own understanding to make sense of life, it only deepened the trouble in his soul, but when he came into God's presence, his perspective changed and he began to understand what was going on around him.

One of the greatest mistakes we make in our search of knowledge and understanding is to forsake the source of all knowledge and understanding. We are quick to run to others and seek their advice, counsel, and reason, but we are slow in coming to the Lord. We want understanding, but we fail to come to the one who can give us understanding. In our reasoning, we must never forget to reason with God.

More to come... David Robison


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