Guess What? I Don't Know Everything!

 

Did you get that? I do NOT, in fact, know everything.

I am very embarrassed to admit this.

Okay. Okay. You can stop laughing now.

I know you're probably saying, "Duh, Christie. Obviously you don't know everything. NO ONE does."

But here's the thing: I like to think I know everything. Or at least most things.

I mean, don't you?

(image from http://darleneanitascott.wordpress.com/)

I prefer to think I'm smart and know the answers.

Yes, I was that kid in school. The one with her hand up when the teacher asked a question, jumping and going, "Oooh! Oooh! Pick Me! ME! I  know!"

But I just had a little rude awakening. Yesterday I read Luke 5:1-11. This is the story of the calling of Peter, James, John and Andrew.

"Calling of the Fisherman" Harry Anderson http://www.dst-corp.com

This lesson just showed up last week at the kids' class I teach at the chapel. I've done it before: you make a fish craft; you sing "Fishers of Men," et cetera.

So when I saw that this was the Bible readng,I said to myself, "I know this one. Like I told the kids: The disciples weren't catching anything so Jesus told them to let down their nets on the other side and then they had lots of fish. Then they all left their nets and followed Him."

Then I read it:

¹ One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around Him and listening to the word of God, ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.
⁴ When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him.

Okay. Whoops.

I realized  I had taught the kids the wrong story! The "Let down your nets on the other side" thing didn't happen until after the Resurrection! This story wasn't the same at all!

Now, maybe you think that's a ridiculous distinction; after all, it was still about the disciples catching a bunch of fish after following Jesus' instructions.

But I thought I knew what I was talking about. And it turns out I didn't.

It's like when that kid waves and waves his hand at the teacher until she finally calls on him and then he gets the answer wrong.

Ouch.

This is just another example of God showing me I don't have all the answers.

The disciples weren't able to catch any fish until they had listened to Jesus' teaching and then  followed His instructions.

Just like I should be doing.

Right after I apologize to all those kids.....

Theological Thoughts at a Three-D Film?

Last night my husband and I went to see the movie Wrath of the Titans.

It wasn't bad, I guess. The special effects were very cool. No expense spared there, obviously.

In fact, I guess they spent so much on the special effects that they didn't have any money left over for a decent script. (cue the laugh track)

(images from wikipedia.org)
This was a sequel to Clash of the Titans (2010), which was a remake of Clash of the Titans (1981).

Are you confused yet?

But seriously, folks...

What really struck me during this movie was the portrayal of the god Zeus.

Zeus was played by Liam Neeson and looked extremely godlike through the whole movie.

He looked exactly like what I would expect the real God to look like, if people were going to cast Him in, say, a remake of The Bible, or something.


image from http://rezirb.com

But truthfully, I don't think the REAL God loks anything like this.

What do I think He looks like? Here's a surprise: I DON'T KNOW!

(I John 4:12a "No one has ever seen God." Duh!)

But I do know that whenever we, as humans, try to make an image of God, we mess it up. Badly.

Like the Israelites did in Exodus 32, with that ridiculous golden calf.

Or, in fact, through the ENTIRE Old Testament, when they kept making idols of wood, and stone, and gold, and silver. When NONE of them were real!

And of course, we still do this today, in different ways. Mostly by trying to make our own image of God in the way WE want Him to be.

We want Him to do what we want, and when He doesn't we get mad. We don't like to think that it's actually about His plan, and not our agenda.

Okay. Back to Perseus, Zeus and the Titans.

In the movie, Zeus sadly tells Perseus that since people have stopped believing in the gods and stopped praying to them, it has robbed the gods of their power. Perseus steadfastly refuses to pray anyways, tries to stop the Titans and save everyone by himself, and ends up having to save Zeus from Hades, because poor Zeus is so depressed and drained by everyone's lack of faith in him.

(I know; it's a complicated plot. I had trouble following it myself.)

This struck me as incredibly sad, because I think this is the actual image we have of God sometimes: When we pray, we wake God up and get him to do stuff. For us.

Like He's sitting around waiting for us to imbue Him with power.

Say WHAT?!

That's absolutely ludicrous, isn't it?

Here's a news flash: GOD DOESN'T NEED US! We need Him!

We don't make Him; HE made us!

It's not about our plans; it's about His plan!

Not that we don't pray, of course. We're commanded to pray; that's a whole other subject.

But we don't pray because God NEEDS us to. We do it because WE need to.

And we trust that He hears, and He is always working, remembering Isaiah 55: 8-9:

“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."

God is SO much bigger than Liam Neeson.

He is so much more our image of Him.

And He is the one in control!