MONDAY MEDITATION: The Problem with Wikipedia (November 16)

God understands [wisdom]; he knows her place; for he looks to the ends of the earth and surveys everything beneath the heavens. – Job 28:23-24

The online encyclopedia, where people contribute articles, is amazing. There are over 3.5 million contributions, with about 7,000 new ones appearing each day. If you want to know about anything, even if some of the facts may be wrong, just look it up on Wikipedia.

But when we combine all our knowledge, reflections, and experiences, will we ever come close to really understanding the mystery in which we live?

Do you know how your heart started beating, or your mind started thinking? Did you craft your delicate eardrum so it could resonate with soundwaves, and send them to a brain that could make sense of them? Did you create your eye, so it could transform light into color and images for the brain to enjoy?

Did you hang the moon in the sky, to pull the tides according to a celestial clock? Did you create the inferno of the sun, to give warmth? Did you tilt the earth on its axis at just the right angle, and spin it around that sun in just the right orbit, so we can have winter, spring, summer, fall?

The beginning of wisdom is to know that the more we know, the less we know. Life is a vast mystery—on a cosmic scale and on an intensely personal scale. That’s reality. And to believe that wisdom depends on having enough people sharing their thoughts is but a delusion. We might get some tips, some insights, but that’s candy, not meat. Only GOD sees it all—the rest of us are children bumping into each other in the dark.

No wonder the ancient Hebrew who penned the Book of Job concluded, “Look, the fear of the Lord is wisdom; turning from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28).

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