Liz Pemberton February 28th 2016 ~ Information Junkies

Any information junkies in the room?   I must admit I kind of am.  I like to know stuff.  I like to know stuff about all kinds of stuff.  One example of this is whenever a situation comes up where something new is due to happen, I am ON the case as soon as possible finding stuff out.  If we’re planning a holiday, I am looking at possibilities, checking out prices, finding the bargains.  For our recent house move I was on realestate.com for hours looking for suitable properties, researching what we needed to know and what questions to ask.  When I was expecting our first baby, I read all the books, talked to lots of mums and made sure I knew as much as I could.  I do my homework because I like to know we are well prepared and have the best possible options available to us.Control issues, you may be wondering??  Perhaps some…!But the thing is, no matter how much research you do, you can never know everything.    You can never know if it’s going to rain every day of your holiday and force you to change your whole itinerary.  You can’t know if your new house is exactly as it seems (ours needed an air conditioning repair and a new dishwasher in the first couple of weeks).  You can never know what it’s really going to be like to be a parent until you actually are one.  And you can definitely never know everything there is to know about God or completely understand God’s mind on some of the things we might encounter day by day.Probably just like you, I wrestle with understanding some God stuff quite regularly.  I sometimes feel confused and wish the answer was just completely clear and obvious.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.  I find it only too easy to get all tangled up in the unknowing and get discouraged.BUT.... then I remember what I do know.  Because in the midst of all the unknown stuff, there are some things we CAN know.The most fundamental thing we can know is that God loves us.  If you need reminding, perhaps you could read and meditate on Romans 8:37-39, Zephaniah 3:17, John 3:16, Psalm 103:8, Isaiah 49:16.   All speak of the truth of God’s deep love for us.  We are all God’s beloved no matter who we are.And there are actually many other things we can know about God.  We can know He is holy.  He is faithful.  He is merciful.   He keeps his promises.  He is powerful.  He is full of compassion.  He is jealous for us.  He is wise. He is creative.  And so the list goes on…So, when we get tangled up in the not-knowing stuff, let’s turn ourselves around and remind ourselves what we do know.  Or, perhaps more to the point, WHO we know.  We know God himself – and a deepening relationship with Him will let the truths we do know soak in further and the stuff we don’t know become clearer or matter much less.  May we all hunger and thirst to know our God and may He draw us close.Your fellow disciple,LizFrom the song “Wonderful World” by Sam Cooke:Don't know much about historyDon't know much biologyDon't know much about a science bookDon't know much about the French I tookBut I do know that I love youAnd I know that if you love me, tooWhat a wonderful world this would be