Conditions of Knowledge

What keeps me alive if I never learn how to stay that way?

Only a fool would deny that the Lord has kept him safe in situations when he’s been vulnerable. But it’d also be foolish not to try to learn how to provide for my safety using the knowledge and wisdom He’s given me.

A man stranded in the wilderness will likely perish if he never learned how to survive in that predicament. On the other hand, it’s also hard to imagine that God would actually prevent him from accumulating the knowledge needed to survive there either.

But if my concern is to not perish for the lack of knowledge, then perhaps building a genuine relationship with Him might be the key:

“Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land...My people are destroyed* for lack of knowledge.“ [Hos. 4:1, 4:6a] [my emphasis]

[*Masoretic text translation; the Greek Septuagint reads literally; “My people are made as not having knowledge”]

However, I’d do well to remember that the essence of any relationship is sustained by an act of the will. But free will isn’t just a mechanism for decisions made in faith. It also lubricates the wheels turning the train of knowledge and experience.

In other words, acquiring knowledge is always the result of a choice.

According to the prophecy of Hosea, no knowledge of God can exist outside of a sincere relationship with Him—one which reveals itself through faithfulness as well.

If I learn certain survival skills, my odds of surviving certain circumstances increase. If I [could possibly even] learn everything I need to know about God, then my odds of perishing are bound to decrease. But survival skills don’t necessarily demand the sacrifices of a relationship.

The true knowledge of God does.