the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” [emphasis mine--e.m.] (Genesis 1:26).

James Smith wrote the following explanation in his commentary The Wisdom Literature of Scripture  when he said: “God has placed ‘eternity’ in the heart of man. Man can appreciate the lasting import of things. He can look back to the distant past and forward to the distant future. He senses that he is not just a creature of time. He has a deep-seated sense of purpose and destiny. Yet this sense of eternity does not solve all his problems nor answer all his questions. He often is at a loss to trace through in detail God’s power and purpose in daily events. Occasionally he may catch a glimpse of God’s lofty purposes. For the rest, man must be content to wait and hope.”

I suspect its meaning has very much to do with the fact that in his initial effort to tempt, satan appealed to Eve’s (and later Adam’s) awareness of God’s timelessness (eternity) in saying to her; “. . . God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil” [e.m.] (Genesis 3:4-5 [MSG]).

Here is the connection back to the second part of Ecclesiastes 3:11; “. . . yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Eve [and Adam] didn’t know everything, but she wanted to--badly, so badly, in fact that she even gave in to satan’s temptation against God’s strict orders not to touch the fruit of the ‘tree of the knowledge (e.m.) of good and evil’. It is the same longing that we still have--we want to know what God already knows and has known for an eternity! And we will do just about anything and everything in order to KNOW it!

This same intense curiosity to know is easily observed in the continuous bombardment and barrage of inquisitive questions pouring forth from the lips of just about any 2 or 3 year old. This incessant desire--even need to know this and need to know that, ad infinitum, can hardly ever be quenched. From an early age on, there is a continuous ongoing and, in fact, increasing self awareness that is taking place. And it doesn’t really cease in adulthood.

What is the dynamic behind the tremendous appeal of the worldwide web commonly known as the Internet? Why do people feel so insecure, anxious or even frantic when their computer crashes or their connection to the Internet is interrupted for a significant period of time or their smart phone dies at an inopportune moment (is there ever an opportune moment)? What drives the fear or anxiety of this happening to any one of us? I suspect it is the need to know or to be ‘in the know’.

We have a voracious appetite for ‘knowing’. Over two months ago, an airliner from Malaysia disappeared completely from the face of the earth without a trace. For weeks and weeks on end, there has been nonstop reporting on the search for this flight along with all sorts of ideas being floated about as to what happened to the plane and its passengers. Was it mechanical failure? Did human error of the pilots bring it down? Was it a terrorist plot involving the commandeering of the plane or a bombing or a suicide pact carried out by the flight crew? Did the plane safely land at some remote location for the purpose of ransom or to outfit the plane for a future suicide flight to some strategic location? Any number of theories are ‘out there’ in an attempt to explain this event. But still, nobody knows.

What is it that feeds this continuing investigation? Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent with no end in sight. Why? Because we have the inherent need to know. This is what fuels all of the outer space programs whether it be manned flight to the moon or unmanned flight to mars or the sending of deep space probes (like the Hubble telescope) to the far reaches of the universe. Or what about efforts to explore the depths of the sea or the dense jungles of the Amazon or the polar caps or the highest peaks of the tallest mountain ranges? We will expend obscene amounts of money and time on projects that some or many may feel will have a limited return of value. But it goes much further than this. People will, and have risked or given up their lives in order to ‘push the envelope’ to understand and know. Why is it so important to us?

With the profoundly vast knowledge and information that we now have, it is not enough!  Satan ‘nailed’ it with Eve, didn’t he?--”You will be like God” That’s it! We want to be like God--We want to know like God knows. But we don’t, and that drives us crazy!

Unlike other humans, Jesus “. . . did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man” (John 2:25). And with this innate sense, Jesus knew exactly what people were thinking at any given moment (Matthew 9:4, Mark 2:8, Luke 5:32, John 6:8). From moment to moment, as He heard people speak or observed them doing the things that they did, He knew very well the motives that precipitated those events--the words and the actions.

And so it is surprising to learn that in speaking to His disciples of the ‘end times’/His second coming, an event in which He was to be intimately involved, Jesus said to them; “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” [e.m.] (Matthew 24:36). I suppose if Jesus were anything like us in this regard, it would probably have driven Him ‘nuts’ to be ‘outside the loop’ concerning this more than significant event. But it apparently did not.

Concerning this very issue about human nature (the obsession to be ‘in the know’), Jesus spoke very clearly and directly: “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2 [NLT]). Though this passage has frequently been abused in making it say that all value judgments or assessments of others is to be avoided, this stern command of Jesus has more often been ignored. Because we want so much to know and believe we should know, it is interesting that whenever we see an action of another or hear his/her words, we are immediately ready to announce with certainty the reason or motive for it . We know without a doubt why this or that was said or done. And almost invariably we are wrong!  We think we got it right, but later we may find that we misunderstood that situation entirely.

Because we have been created with a sense of ‘eternity’ within, Jesus was and is very much aware that we are extremely prone to misjudge and so He has been very direct in condemning this human tendency to impute motives to others that are not likely there. We are not God and we have no business in our silly, but futile notions at ‘playing god’. But once we come to the place of being content (like Jesus) with what we do and do not know, we take a solid step in our struggle toward coming into our own as the sons and daughters of God.

Through John, our Lord directly addressed the issue of who we are becoming when He said; “ . . . What great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God . . . . And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now are we the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” [e.m.] (I John 3:1-3).

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully as I am fully known” [e.m.] (I Corinthians 13:12 [NIV]). Eternity has been set in our hearts; the deep desire to know as we have never known before. Speaking of this very thing, Peter said; “His (God’s) divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness . . . . That through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” [e.m.] (II Peter 1:3-4).

The process, however, that will bring all this about with certainty is not so much in our voracious appetite for more and more knowledge and still more  knowledge, but in the wise and gracious use of that knowledge. As Paul said; “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (I Corinthians 8:1). The greatest truth in all of this is that as our God pours out His love into our hearts by His Spirit, we become most like God because “God is love” [e.m.] (I John 4:16).

~L.A.Williams