On Tuesday at our church home group we read Psalm 139. David writes about – probably sings about – a God who knows everything. It starts, ‘You have searched me Lord and know me,’ later continuing, ‘Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.’
God’s knowledge extends far beyond the limits of my knowledge.
Yesterday morning I looked at the Read’s Car Maintenance Facebook page. Our friend Andy, who’s cared for our cars for many years, describes recent jobs: ‘This Land Rover Discovery came in with multiple faults… traced to a blown fuse which was caused by the thermostat housing leaking onto the oil cooling piston…’ ‘Had 3 Fords in, all with knackered rear axle bushes… we offer powerflex bushes as an aftermarket upgrade over the standard OEM rubber…’
I’m left baffled, but content that Andy’s car-knowledge extends far beyond the limits of my knowledge. (I’m not suggesting that Andy’s God!)
Yesterday afternoon I was reading ‘The Jungle Book’. Rudyard Kipling tells of Rikki-tikki-tavi, the mongoose who kills Nag, the evil Cobra: ‘It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of the mongoose family is, ‘Run and find out’; and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose.’
With curiosity and enquiry, like Rikki-tikki-tavi, I can find out about some things that are beyond the limits of my knowledge.
Yesterday evening we went to Norwich to see ‘Morse’ – a stage adaptation of the long-running TV murder mystery drama series. A young actress suddenly dies during a performance of Hamlet. A suspicious death… Inspector Morse investigates…a suspect is murdered… there’s a connection to events twenty-five years previously…
Morse’s curiosity and enquiry unravels the mystery. We discover ‘who dunnit’. The limits of our knowledge is extended.
This morning I’m musing on those things I can never know, those things I’m content not to know, those things that I will benefit from knowing… and praying for the wisdom to know the difference.
malcolmsmusings.org 