Too Much Knowledge

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:9

Sometimes we know too much.  We know too much about the doctor’s report or what the doctor had said concerning ill health, we know too much about what our bank account says in terms of having a negative balance, or we know too much about our lack of education or maturity in years in terms of operating in our passion or God given calling in life.  We cannot confidently embrace the promises of God in faith because these “knowledgeable reports” serve to produce doubt and even create a stumbling block to receiving God’s promises.  In Genesis, God promised Abraham that He would give him and his descendants the Promised Land or Land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7).  Over 400 years later, Abraham’s descendants (the Israelites) were sent to explore the Promised Land but complained they could not possess it.  They brought back a very “knowledgeable report” and commented, “The people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there” (Numbers 13:28).  God called their “knowledgeable report” an “evil report” (Numbers 13:32).  Not only did they have knowledge of the land itself in terms of its defense fortifications, but they had also researched the lineage of the people of the land demonstrated by their knowledge that they were the sons of Anak.  Throughout the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land, God grew frustrated with their doubts and lack of faith in terms of possessing the land.  The reason He was frustrated was not necessarily because of their disobedience, His frustration stemmed from the fact that He had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and had to bring it to past because ALL of God’s promises MUST come to pass!  He earnestly wanted them to be the beneficiaries of that promise.  God also demonstrated His miracles and wonders in bringing them out of the land of Egypt so that they would have a point of reference at times when things looked impossible.  They should have reflected on how God had sent the 10 plagues, parted the Red Sea, and fed them manna in the wilderness in the past because if He delivered them once He could do so again.  They should have been knowledgeable only concerning what God had spoken to them and constantly meditated on that.  In our own lives, it would behoove us to reflect on times in the past when God delivered us from situations that seemed impossible and know that He can and will do it again.  God never goes back on His promises and He knew He would fulfill that promise to Abraham but they would not be partakers of that promise.  Unfortunately, they would die in the wilderness but their children would be partakers of that promise made over 400 years earlier to Abraham and enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14:31).  Don’t acquire too much knowledge contrary to God’s word.  Reflect only on what God has said and emerge victorious every time!