But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” – Genesis 3:9
People are funny. They love jumping to conclusions, but they hate when other people do it. This tendency to declare something to be true, despite sufficient evidence, is rooted in our inherited desire to want to know stuff. We want to be masters of knowledge. We want to be able to perceive what others are thinking. “Did you see that look on his face? I know that he’s irritated and planning how to get around the issue. After all, you know what sort of character he is.”
Think about it. There is something emotionally rewarding about interpreting responses and making snap judgments. You get to feel like you are on top of the world, like nothing escapes your wise and experienced eye. You give yourself credit for not being deceived by a deceiver.
On the one hand, it’s true that everyone is prone to deception. After all, we are all sinners. So, you are on pretty safe ground when you presume that someone else is hiding something. On the other hand, when you promote your limited perception to being a source of truth, you necessarily devalue actual truth. This is why you don’t like it when other people make snap judgments about you. You want them to wonder. You want them to hear you out before deciding what you think.
Here’s the thing: to discover truth, you have to first wonder. In order to learn, you must adopt the view that you really don’t already know something and therefore it is in your interest to explore and ask questions. The problem with asking questions is that one FIRST has to have an attitude of wonder. What thwarts wonder? Primarily two things: Pride and Prejudice thwart wonder.
The first recorded conversation between God and man is in Genesis 3. God begins by asking a question: Where are you? After Adam responds, God follows up with three more questions. In other words, their first recorded discussion involves four questions from God. God isn’t asking these questions because He doesn’t know the answers, He is asking them to help cultivate wonder in Adam. He wants Adam to wonder about how he got himself into his current predicament. You see, Adam and Eve had violated an essential law: Don’t attempt to gain knowledge by stealing it. Don’t think that you are smart by grabbing knowledge illicitly. Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why not? Because 1) God says so and 2) attempts to circumvent God’s ordained processes are really attempts to discredit our Creator.
Why didn’t Adam and Eve simply wonder? Why weren’t THEY the ones asking questions of God? Because of their Pride and their Prejudice. THEY wanted to know stuff on their own and not rely on their Creator. They wanted to believe that God was holding back from them – hiding stuff and deceiving them. Satan cultivates their Pride and their Prejudice by challenging them, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Do you hear the accusation of deceit? Do you hear the presumption of what someone else thinks? “God knows that…” This is Pride. Do you hear the bias? “God doesn’t want you to know and to be like Him. He’s a rude, ungracious god.” This is Prejudice.
The next time that you are tempted to jump to a conclusion about someone, take a look at your motives and your Pride. Maybe you, like Adam, want to think that you are independently wise. See your Prejudice and then begin to wonder. The cure for Pride and Prejudice is knowing what God has said, not relying on your own illicit knowledge grabs. May God grant you wonder and a desire for His Word. Wonder thwarts Pride and Prejudice. May your wonder be cultivated as you worship Him this Lord’s Day.
