Sufficient and Comprehensive Knowledge

G. K. Chesterton once said, “My problem with life is not that it is rational, nor that it is irrational … but that it is almost rational.” Just when we are able to form a consistent philosophy of life, someone or something pokes a hole in it.

Job, in the Bible, began to wonder if God’s power was arbitrary. It was not God’s power that he doubted; it was His purpose that he questioned. After patiently listening to a flurry of questions from Job, God, in a most surprising move in response, raised about 64 questions to Job. One after another, they were compelling Job to open up his own modest stock of certainties. Job was speechless because he realized that there were an awful lot of things that he did not understand that he had never-the-less trusted.

You see, God has put enough into this world to make faith in Him a most reasonable thing, but he has left enough out to make it impossible to live by sheer reason alone. Does that mean that we violate reason? Absolutely not. But it does mean that there are times when reason is transcended.

Author Francis Schaeffer offered this illustration: Suppose you were to leave your home in the morning with two glasses on your table — glass A with two ounces of water in it and glass B, empty. When you returned home at night you noticed that glass B now had water in it and glass A was empty. Further, when you measured the water in glass B, you noticed that there was four ounces of water in it, not two. Now, you may infer that someone took the water from A and put it into B. But you can also be sure that all of the water did not come from A because A only had two ounces of water to start with. At the least, the two extra ounces need a different explanation.

You see friends, there are things in this world that science can and must explain. But it cannot explain all things. There are other realities which, by rational inference, may be true while not being fully comprehensible. There is a world of a difference between sufficient and comprehensive knowledge. We may know God’s answers meaningfully without knowing them exhaustively.

In the end, God cautions us to remember our finitude and to enjoy the wonder. Unveiling every idea may also strip away wonder. Surprise and mystery are part of God’s story. That is why Chesterton reminded us that if you squeeze the infinite mind into a finite head, the head would burst. God alone knows all and with good reason we trust in Him.

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Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. “A Slice of Infinity” is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.