Faith Like a Child

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Before we have been taught, we trust what we are told and what we see. We have a fascination about those things that seem different. But once we have been educated and have gained some human “wisdom” we start leaning on our own understanding. We gain the attitude that if we cannot easily explain it or at least grasp it intellectually then it must not be true. The challenge of science is that it is constantly attempting to reveal God’s working, but all it can do is discover certain laws of the universe that God himself set into motion. The knowledge of these laws then can become a self-limiting influence on trusting in God because God is not that readily explained in pure mathematics or physical laws.

A child has no notion of any of these things. He is not filtering what he hears through his knowledge or sense of how the universe works. Instead, he is free to believe that a supernatural God can do all that God does and that the universe still is what it is. He can believe in a triune God that exists in three persons who are equal and one. He can believe that God can miraculously heal, effortlessly change the course of history, and simultaneously speak to billions of people at the same time. He doesn’t question, because God is.

The wise and learned get their underwear in a bunch over the idea of God and Jesus Christ. They wrap their minds around the axle trying to figure out how prayer works. They get stuck on simple things that to the child just are.

How marvelous is God’s plan that it is so easy that even a child can grab hold of it. What a shame that man has attempted to grow to understand everything and in the process is now unable to understanding everything.