One of the greatest sources of stress during this global pandemic is that so many of us are facing potentially life-altering decisions for which there doesn’t seem to be a good answer. We want to make wise decisions that lead to prudent action, but there is so much that is unknown.
Healthcare workers must choose between risking their health and that of their family members or abandoning their calling to care for the sick and dying. Policy makers and governing officials must weigh public health risks against a potential economic disaster. Parents must determine if showing up to work every day to their essential jobs and risking exposure is worse than not having money to feed their children.
And we have no idea how long COVID-19 will continue to be a threat. We can only guess as to when a vaccine might be developed. We are unable to foresee what the ultimate effect to our jobs and economy will be. We do not know how long we will need to be in quarantine or continue social distancing. We cannot predict if we or our loved ones will be diagnosed with this virus and if so, what the outcome will be.
We long for answers. We covet knowledge. But God in His wisdom did not create us with the capacity for all knowledge.
As Jen Wilkin states in her book None Like Him, “Our insatiable desire for information that God has not been pleased to give us means we covet His divine omniscience. We want all the facts that God has, but we are finite beings not designed to hold them.”
Numerous scientific studies have proven that information overload affects us negatively, producing anger, irritability, lethargy, anxiety, even a lack of empathy. It has physiological consequences as well-elevated blood pressure, digestive disorders, headaches, cardiovascular stress. Too much information can diminish our ability to make decisions. You’ve probably heard the term “analysis paralysis.” We fail to act or decide because we cannot process the vast amount of detail we receive, or we delay, waiting for that one additional piece of information that we hope will make the pathway clear.
We would like to believe our anxiety would diminish if we could see the future. We all think that knowing more facts could only be beneficial.
We completely overestimate ourselves.
You see, God is not just knowledgeable. As Jen said in the above quote, He is omniscient. He is completely limitless in knowledge. God knows all things, has always known all things, and will forever continue to know all things–past, present, future–as well as all things existing outside of time. There is nothing He can learn.
But beyond His omniscience, only God is truly good and completely just. God alone imparts ultimate mercy and grace. Only God loves perfectly. And only God is omnipotent–having the ability and power to act on His perfect and limitless knowledge.
In short, God is God and we are not. We were not made to hold all knowledge because we lack all the other characteristics of God that would allow us to act properly on that knowledge. Although we were created in the image of God, we are sinful, far, far less than His utter holiness and perfection. We are incapable of acting apart from our own self-interest. So, would it really be a good thing for us to know all, or even to know more than God allows us to know?
When confronted with tough decisions and a world of unknowns, we claim that more information would help us better face what is to come. The reality is that having more facts will not help us withstand COVID-19 or anything else that today or tomorrow holds. It is only the power of Christ in us that makes us capable.
We must trust God to manage both today and tomorrow.
So instead of craving knowledge of facts, we need to crave more knowledge God.
While sheltering in place you may be facing the temptation to endlessly scroll social media, binge Netflix, check your 401K balance for the 12th time, or relentlessly read articles and charts and graphs on COVID-19. Instead, ask yourself…is this feeding my intellect in a way that enables me to love the Lord my God with all my mind, or in a way that causes information overload? Does what I’m learning cause me to worship and trust in myself, or our government, or our healthcare system, or our economy, or does it cause me to trust in and marvel at God who is perfect in all knowledge?
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Romans 11:33
