This past Saturday was supposed to be a big day for many Christians.
We were supposed to be raptured.
Harold Camping, president of Family Radio in California, declared that after years studying supposed “codes” that exist in the Bible, he could confidently say that Saturday, May 21, 2011 was the day Jesus was going to rapture His followers. He spent time, energy, and other people’s money trying to figure out when Jesus was coming back.
And some people believed him.
They quit their jobs, emptied their savings, paid for their pets to be taken care of (and are not getting a refund), took out ads, bought new vehicles (not quite sure why you would need a new vehicle if you were ascending into heaven, but to each their own), and spent time trying to convince people Jesus was coming back on Saturday.
They firmly believed that it was possible to figure out when Jesus was coming back.
The bible says something different.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” — Matthew 24:36
These people took the words of a man in California over the word of God. They, and Camping himself, believed God could be figured out – that the things Christ Himself said that HE didn’t know, we could know. That somehow, our finite minds can figure out the infinite mind of Christ. Even their web site and advertising campaign revolved around the phrase: We Can Know.
It’s the ultimate lie.
The same lie Adam and Eve believed.
The enemy didn’t trick Adam and Eve with temptation, or lust, or addiction. He didn’t get them to turn from God because of a death in the family or a lost job or life turning out differently than they expected. He got them a different way.
He convinced them that with a single action, they can know what God knows.
They could have His wisdom, His insight and His knowledge. They could know what He was going to do before He did it. They could understand the depths of the universe, determine right from wrong, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt what God will do.
It’s the same lie many of us believe today.
That somehow, we can predict God. That with enough study, with enough prayer, with attending enough seminars or conferences, we can figure Him out.
We can know exactly who He has saved and who He hasn’t.
We can determine exactly how He will respond in any given situation.
We can know why some people are extremely blessed and some seem to be cursed.
We can know, and have the right to know, what God wants to do in our lives – and why things have been so difficult.
We can tell people exactly why they’re going through a tough time, or why life isn’t turning out they way they expected, or the meaning behind that loved one’s death.
We can deduce, induce, plot, solve, figure, determine and know anything we want about God.
We can know.
It’s the oldest, and most destructive, lie.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
– Isaiah 55:8-9
This God we serve is bigger than our comprehensive. He’s bigger than what we can figure out. He is beyond anything we could ever know. He is perfect in justice, generous in mercy and complete love.
And we aren’t.
I don’t know about you, but that’s comforting to me.
If I could figure this God out, if I could understand everything He understands, if I could determine exactly what He’s going to do before He does it…
Then He wouldn’t be a God worth following.
He is bigger than us, smarter than us and acts in complete perfection. We will never completely understand Him.
And we don’t need to. We just need to trust that He knows everything, and is always working for our good.
