A Majority of One: Psalm 3:1-4

Truth and reality are not discovered by a majority vote. They are not created by the sum total of all the wisest and informed of men. All that should ever be that truly is, was before man was formed from the dust of the earth. In fact, men came rather late. Although made in God’s image, he was the last on the agenda. His counsel was not taken into account in the ordaining and bringing to pass all of which the universe and its operation consist.

Job’s wisest counselors, his best friends came and sat with him for days before opening their mouths. When they had finished all their counsel, their analysis, and their prophecies, Job was as miserable, as ignorant, as stupid, as bitter and hopeless as before they appeared. He then adds his own ignorance to the sum of his friends.

Starting in Job 38, God’s reply comes swiftly and crisply.

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”

The Almighty then pounds them with a series of mouth-closing questions:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

“Who set its measurements?”

“Who laid its cornerstone?”

“Have you….?” “Can you…?” “Will you…?” 

“Do you know the time…?” “Do you keep watch…?” “Is it at your command…?”

“Who has given wisdom in the innermost being or given understanding to the mind?”

Parents certainly know more than children. Young men and women will do well to seek and listen to the counsel of elders. Considerable wisdom has been accumulated and preserved in libraries of good books. Pundits and editors exhort us from the pages of the publications or the venues from which they speak. But when we have heard them all, our questions are merely multiplied.

Thousands of years of living in and exploring this planet has only increased its mysteries: and that is to say nothing of the boundless universe of which the earth is no more than a speck of dust.

When we find ourselves in a hopeless situation, and the best and most beloved of our available counselors give us no help, we ought to lift our eyes a bit higher than the level of our fellow creatures. There is One Who stands outside all that is created, and Whose treasures of knowledge are unopened by creatures. He has the power, wisdom, and compassion to silence our fears and order our faltering steps. He will speak if we seek Him.

When He does, and we have been properly humbled from our arrogance, we will be enabled to quietly rest in the Voice that spoke when there was no one to hear, and yet abides as the single Source of all wisdom.

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