It has long been the underlying mission of modernity to seek to unpack an explainable world that the rest of us can understand – attempting to incrementally demystify the unknown into manageable bits of information that we can leverage against the future with an unwavering hope that somehow science would be able to offer us a sufficient enough purpose to pursue that future . . . before we all lose heart. But post-modernism has already chosen to opt-out, having already packed its bags, choosing to end this epistemological charade – having gone off in search of some self-affirming pronounced reality it is willing to embrace . . . one made in its own image.
This is the bipolar malaise our culture finds itself in – torn between the hard facts of empiricism and the cognitive dissonance of existential desire . . . ever tugging at the fabric of reality, ever hoping to smooth out the impossible wrinkles of its own discontent and fear. For there are few things that are quite as unsettling as an existence that can’t be explained. But because our questions about the meaning of our own existence seldom escape the vague abstraction of our conscious minds – we are left to ask them within the subtext of all the things we do that give our lives any sense of purpose.
It is a secular confession to believe that life has meaning – even if they can’t quite put their finger on exactly why . . . making it a faith confession, of sorts. And it is the confession of my Christian faith to believe that life finds all of its meaning in God . . . even though we can’t explain exactly how it works. For only by faith am I willing to be humble enough to realize that explanations are almost always self-serving – tempting me to trust my own understanding of the world to guide my path.
And here’s the crux of the problem – we want an explainable world so we can place our faith in our own understanding. No doubt, this is why Proverbs 3:5 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” – knowing full well that placing faith in our own understanding, is in fact, in direct competition with our faith in God. Which is likely why verse 6 completes the thought “In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” – because humble submission is the way of Christ.
Here’s the thing — we crave the certainty that we imagine an explainable world would offer us . . . a world we can predict, if not control. But the certainty that God offers us is found in his immutable character, requiring us to pursue him above all else, that we might know him in his fullness (Ephesians 3:19) – a fullness that “surpasses knowledge”, a fullness that can only be experienced in the love of Christ. In the light of such love all other knowledge seems foolish, because all other explanations of the world become empty and lifeless, when compared to the love of God found in Christ.
. . . and remember — it’s a great big world.
