Prediction and Control
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 NASB
Seek first – We live in a world that relies on a magnificent lie. That lie is fundamental to our way of life. It gives us the illusion of control, the expectation of a better future, the hope of heaven. What is this insidious falsity? Ah, simple: it is the lie that the world is predictable, that knowing how the processes of the world work will enable us to control them in predictable ways. So, we think that if we just knew all the causal factors behind some event, we could extract from that analysis the principles behind every similar event and then we would be able to predict with complete accuracy the outcome of a future event. The lie, in its basic terms, is that the world consists of repetitive causal chains. Understandable repetitive causal chains! The lie that the world can be reduced to formulae, to algorithms, to rational control.
We even apply this lie to our religion. Here, in this verse, we think that if we seek His kingdom, we can control the outcome, namely, all these good things will be given to us. In other words, it’s up to us. If we do x, we will get y. If we do certain religious things, God guarantees that certain results will happen. The results are part of a causal chain which we superintend.
And then we come across a statement from Abraham Heschel:
“It is within man’s power to seek Him; it is not within man’s power to find Him.”[1]
If we paid attention to the grammar of Yeshua’s statement (even in Greek) we would have drawn the same conclusion. The verb translated “will be added” is a future, passive conjugation of prostíthēmi (to add). That means it is done to us. It is not something we do. You and I can seek the Kingdom, but the results are not up to us, just as Heschel points out. We have the capacity, and the obligation, to seek God, but it is God who finds us as we are seeking Him. The Western paradigm of prediction and control is not a biblical idea, and it does not apply to the call of God. As Heschel points out, “All Abraham had was wonder, and all he could achieve on his own was readiness to perceive. The answer was disclosed to him; it was not found by him.”[2]
The measure of your faith is determined by your willingness to seek, not your experience of the answer. The measure of your faith is determined by the persistence of your questions. God determines if He will give an answer. All you have to do (and it’s a lot) is be ready to hear.
Topical Index: faith, seek, add, prostíthēmi, prediction, control, Matthew 6:33
[1] Abraham Heschel Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism (Free Press Paperbacks, 1959), p. 72.
