A Thought For The Week Of October 9, 2017

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; ... He reveals deep and hidden things ..." (Daniel 2:20, 22) You could say that it's the difference between dabbling and diving. How do we approach the things of God: God's Word, God's revelation; God's love; even God's Son. Do we scratch the surface, or do we want to truly "know" all that can be known about God? Do we yearn to go deeply into the things of God. I fear that far too many people are more than satisfied with just barely scratching the surface. They don't make a commitment to knowing God; they don't even really make an attempt. Instead, they satisfy themselves with knowing about God - and the two are not the same thing. Some have said that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Or, to quote Francis Bacon, "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." We might prefer today to make Bacon's language more modern and inclusive - but the principle he puts forth is still very relevant: when we dive deeply, we find things that we may never have known or wouldn't otherwise experience. A shallow faith is of little use. It certainly won't save us; nor will it provide us with much strength in those inevitable times when testing comes upon us. Daniel understood. He knew that God would reveal "deep and hidden things" - things hidden not by God's choice but by our own refusal to truly see. Daniel, in a foreign environment and faced with huge pressure to knuckle under and assimilate into Babylonian society, refused. He was strengthened by what he had come to know of God - and his ordeal had perhaps been the life experience that forced him to dive in to the deep and truly meet God rather than to just dabble about in the shallows and find nothing but what he already knew. God's desire for us all is that we should go deep, and have a meaningful and life-changing experience with the divine.