I amaze myself at what I don’t know. We came to Houston for the week because we believed we were familiar with it. Not so. We drove around the downtown yesterday and I commented that the recession had hit Houston hard. There was hardly anyone on the streets. I discovered later that there are tunnels now below downtown Houston. There were plenty of people moving quickly below ground; smart enough to be in tunnels and not on the streets in cold weather. We descended into the tunnels and couldn’t find anything more interesting than more tunnels. My adventure into my ignorance continued upon exiting the tunnels, when I wasn’t smart enough to figure how to get out of the parking garage. And me a techie and all.
Today I drove through parts of Houston I didn’t know existed. Some are wonderful; others not so much so. I am learning that just when we think we “know it all” our alarm bells should go off. This particularly true with God.
Even if we are smart enough to realize that it’s all about relationship and not trying to get the rules right, we are rarely competent at relating. Relationship is about deeper knowing of one by the other. God knows it all and we…don’t. Man is a forgetful, weak creature. We are slow to learn and even after we learn, we forget. God is so immense, so complex that we can never know Him completely, at least not on this earth.
God’s call to us to relationship, to know Him more, is constant. It’s constant because we forget what we learned and we have so much more to learn. When Jesus first called Peter, he bid him to “Follow me.” And certainly Peter did, to the depth he was then able. After three years, after Peter’s many stumbles and his betrayal, Jesus asked him again, “Follow me.” Surely this was necessary because Peter had forgotten and gotten off track, as we do. But also because Peter was now ready for more, for a deeper walk. Peter had learned, at least for now, that he was incapable on his own. His stumbling and bumbling had taught him. His initial following had been natural and by his own power. Now broken and ready to learn more, Peter was ready to follow further and deeper. Being at least partially empty, he was ready to be, at least partially, filled. Jesus “breathed on them” and said to them “Receive the Holy Ghost.” We know that the filling must be constant because the leaking is.
We often scratch our heads and even shake our fists toward heaven at the “difficulties” that befall us. They are really just God helping us to the end of ourselves, because that’s where He is. No matter how far along with Him we’ve come, His promise still is true:
John 13:36 (New International Version)
36Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
No matter how far He’s taken us. There’s more following to do and more blessings await.
Come to (what is for now) the end of yourself, know that you don’t know and then…be blessed.
Nick
Be the first to reply