Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in the mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
As I grow older I am finding that it is okay to say, “I don’t know.” For so many years I felt inadequate when I did not have an answer for someone’s question. I don’t know what it is that makes me feel that way. Maybe it is the people pleasing side of me and I feel that a person would think less of me if I don’t have an answer. Maybe I feel that I will look incompetent and therefore a person will not want to continue in relationship with me. Whatever the reasons, it has bothered me for years to not know an answer. Not as much now, but it still is there for me.
Of course those things are not true about me just because I do not know an answer to a question. I have heard this phrase several times through the years: “the older I get, the less I know.” Now, of course, that is not true…I know more now than I did ten years ago. However, the older I get, I do realize how little I know. This passage, as simple as it is, gives some clarity to why I know so little. There is so much we cannot understand because God, the Maker of all, has not revealed it.
As we look at the passage and read what it says it appears that through modern science we know a little more about the wind and what happens in the mother’s womb than Solomon did. But our proof that we know little spans much larger than the two examples that Solomon gives us. We cannot understand the work of God. We still do not understand why someone has to die young, or tragically. We cannot understand why the bumble bee flies even though aerodynamically it’s not supposed to be able to fly. There are so many more examples. There are some answers we will not find…at least not until we are with God in glory when he makes all things new. Even then, we may not know.
Also, as I grow older, I realize that I don’t want to know the answers. Sometimes knowing the answers is painful. In Ecclesiastes 1 Solomon talks about that with much wisdom comes much sorrow. There are times now that I would rather just be clueless.
Finally, it is okay for me to refer to someone who is an expert in the area that I do not know about. I may not be gifted in a certain area, therefore, I need to send my inquisitor to a source that has more information than me. Furthermore, there are times where I just have to accept the fact that God is the only one who holds the answer and He will answer in His time and in His way...or, he may not answer at all...He knows what is best.
Questions/challenges:
1. How do you feel when you do not know an answer?
2. Where do you think that comes from for you?
3. What do you typically do when you do not know an answer?
4. Pay attention this week to areas of your life where you feel you just don’t know an answer. Fight the urge to come up with an answer and just accept that you may not know. Also, ask God for some sort of revelation whether it be an answer or just the comfort of not knowing.
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