What’s Going On?
“In [the tabernacle of Moses] we have a figure of the Christian man. His spirit is the holy of holies, where God dwells in the darkness of faith, where no light is; for he believes that which he neither sees nor feels nor comprehends.” – Luther
In past weeks I have noticed how easily I am led astray in my thinking about what is going on around me. It causes me to wonder how man is to make proper sense of his world.
We detect what is going on in our world through our senses. Our senses transmit this data to our mind which makes something of it. But does the mind tell us what is really going on?
The mind often interprets data wrongly. This can be because of inexperience. It can also be because the mind engages the creative power of the imagination to interpret the data in distorted ways. It can plunge us into depression, anxiety, fear, discouragement or any number of places we’d rather not be. In this way the mind is part of a human nature which is fallen and works against us.
This conveys how we can be affected negatively by our senses. In a way this is only half the story. What about when this data affects us positively, in a way which delivers a misleading sense of well-being?
Modern marketing and therapy are right on this track, offering satisfaction and fulfillment through things and experiences. It is also common in mainstream Christianity, where experience filled events and feel-good messages tweak us into a sense of being with God and in His favour. It all seems so far removed from what Luther refers to.
It is into this setting that the Scriptures speak: “Walk by faith not by sight”. Humans, by design, do not find stability by means of what they can see, feel or understand. Faith plugs us into the promises of God to discover that our security is in God’s faithfulness to bring about the best outcome in His way, in His time and contrary to how we think it should happen. It is not confirmed by good or bad feelings, but by what is eternally true.
Does this mean that our sight, feeling and understanding are of no use? The short answer is that they are of much better use when they are under the dominion of the Word of God. With the foundation of faith, God lights our path and gives us the proper view, so we are then in a safer place to experience with our sight, feeling and understanding.