“Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.” (Jacob 4:8)
In this day of information overload and the transparency movement, we want to know everything and we want to know it right now. When we can’t find all the answers, we assume that there must be something intentionally being hidden from us to deceive us. We want to know all the secrets and all the mysteries so we can make “informed” decisions. When we don’t find satisfactory answers we take our doubts and run with them. I think this is what is leading many to leave the church right now.
It is GOOD to seek. It is GOOD to want more knowledge. We should be studying and learning and growing, but the veil is there for a reason. It is there for many reasons, but one of them for our protection. NOT having all the answers at our fingertips protects our agency and protects us from being held accountable for all of the knowledge. We are only accountable for what we know and understand and how we live up to that. God does not give us all of the mysteries of the universe right now and that is ok. We can seek and find and receive revelation but it will come line upon line so that we can build our knowledge as we build our faith and our capacity to handle that knowledge. We have to become more comfortable with doubt—more comfortable with unknowing, and trust in what HAS been revealed to us. We have to trust God that He knows the answers and that He will work it all out for us in the end. We can rely on the answers we have been given, the spiritual experiences we have ad and our relationship with God and trust that the rest will fall into place and will be revealed in time.
Meditation and Journaling Prompt: Why does doubt make us so uncomfortable? What is doubt? How can it serve us rather than hinder us?
