Inherent Ignorance
I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23
Not In Himself – You think it’s a way out. It seems to offer relief. It looks like the solution. It feels right. But Jeremiah is there to remind us that the way of escape is not in us (lo la’adam). Here’s the problem. Our own minds deceive us. The bottom line on the Bible’s view of human spiritual intelligence is this: I can’t be trusted.
Before you stop reading because this is just too dark, remember that the Bible is the best reality show you will ever see. It hides nothing from us. It tells us exactly what we need to know. And when it comes to finding our direction in life, it tells us that there is a way which seems right to us but the end is death. We need to know this. There is no point in pretending it isn’t true or claiming that we are the exception to the rule. We need to know that we can’t get out of the box through our own thinking.
If you ever find yourself stuck, if you see the same failures of moral courage coming back over and over, if you devise plans to fight the destructive elements in your life but they never work, then you are ready for Jeremiah. Here’s the headline: You can’t get out on your own! Human intelligence and willpower are just check-out signs at the registration desk of Hotel California (go listen to the Eagles). “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
Now what do we do? The Bible tells me that I am not ready for freedom until I come to the point where I stop trying to get myself out. As long as I keep thinking that I will find a way, I am lost. I have to come to a brick wall dead end.
It’s not easy to get there. You would think that the frustration and failure of trying to find our own plans of escape from internal corruption and guilt would quickly drive us to cry, “What must I do to be rescued?” But more often than not, it doesn’t. Human beings relentlessly return to the same vomit. The problem is not our failures. It is our wiring. We just don’t want to admit to ourselves that we can’t do it. We don’t want to tell God that we are a DNA disaster. We want God to help us manage our own way out. We don’t want to say, “Wretched man that I am.” We don’t want to agree with Jeremiah. We want a reasonable solution. Why? Because the alternative seems so pathetic. If I can’t check out of the Hotel because there is something wrong with my cognitive processes, then there is absolutely nothing I can do for myself. That’s exactly the biblical perspective. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to finally see the bricks. Sometimes it happens in a startling moment of revelation. When it occurs, we are left with but one choice. We must rely on God’s word to direct us, not on anything that we think up along the way. My asphalt jungle is an asylum maze. I must follow God’s way if I want to ever be sane again.
Topical Index: Reason
