Knowing

I usually try to keep this space open to topics related to the Great OutDoors, whether it be a planned event, an interesting natural occurrence, or something that piqued my interest on one of our outings. Today, however, is different.

Valerie and I went to the movies last weekend and we watched a film I had really wanted to see: Knowing.

Now, I have never been a big Nicholas Cage fan, either as an actor (he's kind of "wooden"), or, for the most part, the movies he's chosen to be a part of. At least, until recently. I've enjoyed the National Treasure movies. Knowing looked like another film in that vein, and it was - sort of. In fact, it reminded me of the movie Signs in many ways.

There are a lot of Christian themes woven throughout. They are, in fact, essential to the story. I sat the entire movie trying to decide whether I liked what the filmmakers were doing, or if they were just accurate enough to be trouble; kind of like Satan in Genesis to Adam and Eve, "Did God really say ..."

This isn't meant to be a review, per se, but there are elements that stick out. I had no complaint with the content of the film, but for a film called Knowing, there is a lot in the movie that leaves you un-knowing. There are many signs in the movie, but where do they lead? Do they lead to a dead-end? Or, like Bruce in Bruce Almighty, seeing the signs, but not really seeing them, do I have to say that “I Saw the Sign, but it failed to open up my eyes”? While there are some things we will never be able to know (Is. 55:8-9), the things in this movie shouldn’t have been among them. What follows is a partial list of the things I am still in the dark on.

The biggest one is: What's the deal with the rocks? The filmmakers make a point of showing this rock being passed along (I won't share between whom, in case you haven't seen the movie yet). And yet, there appears to be no real significance to these rocks. When they finally get there, both Valerie and my reaction was, “That’s it?!”

Another thought was: What's the ultimate point of the list of numbers given to the little girl? What's the point of being told of future events if no one could do anything to stop, or alter them? Cage’s character tries to act on them, but he’s really limited by a lack of knowledge as to what they mean. In case you missed my earlier Ace of Base reference, here’s another, "Life is demanding Without understanding." Later in the movie, Cage’s character comes to a realization and makes a valid point: God’s prophecies never fail. If a prophecy fails, you can know it was not from God. So these initial prophecies are all leading up to the final one and because they have all come to pass, this last one can be trusted also. That is meant to be a comfort and a reassurance that God is indeed in control of events.

That seemed to be the dilemma in the first place, as Cage’s character struggled with life. Is there randomness in life and all of creation, or is there design, purpose and order. The events that transpire in the film argue for the latter. And that makes perfect sense because God, the designer of life, is a God of order and He gives purpose to everything.

The next thing I was unclear about: Are they angels or aliens? “Argh, not space ships! Why did they have to do spaceships?” That was my first thought. The filmmakers were faithful to the book of Ezekiel – sort of. Read Ezekiel 1 when you get a chance; I suppose you can see aliens and spaceships there if you wanted to. Though, as Captain Kirk asked in Star Trek: The Final Frontier (1989), “What need does God have for a Starship?” I mean, besides being omnipresent (everywhere, all the time), He can pretty much do what He wants since He is outside of the laws He created. The description of the beings described in Ezekiel really don’t resemble those of the film either. There again, the film’s angels more closely resemble angels as they are described in other places in the Bible.

The final piece I felt should have been clear, but that I left not knowing: How did Cage’s character “know” he would see everyone else again? And similar: Who, exactly, was going to be safely reunited after the final event? If the answer to that one was, “Everyone,” there’s a big problem.

The movie seemed to indicate that that was the case – all dogs go to heaven (well, all people in this case). That simply isn’t the case and that’s one fact I do know (and Cage’s character could actually know also; even though he knew very little else)! The Bible is quite clear about that one: it’s only by faith in the substitutionary death of Jesus for your sins, that you get into the final scene!

And It Was Night (2)

So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" Matt. 14: 29-30

OK, we were talking about night and darkness and now we’re climbing out of a boat with Peter in a storm, what happened? Don’t be impatient, I’m getting there.

I was visiting my in-laws on Sunday and as I pulled in their driveway, I saw two young seedlings with blooms starting. Tiny buds were popping out all over that little tree, top to bottom. Is it a coincidence that this began after the beginning of spring? The days have passed the point where darkness rules and every day from now till winter, the days increase in the length of time it is light. The sun brings revival to dormant bulbs, lawns, and trees.

As we talked about, we have access to a life giving light source also. One that is guaranteed to bring revival to the soul – Jesus Christ. While there are many manifestations of “darkness” in our lives, it still comes down to one root cause and one cure.

Look back at our beginning verse. Peter was walking on water! Incredible! That is, until he took his eyes off of Jesus and started to look at the situation surrounding him.

That’s the root cause of our “darkness,” our sinking, also – wandering and taking our eyes from Jesus. You know you’ve done it; we all have. We get busy, we neglect our praying, we neglect our reading, we neglect our praising, and we neglect acknowledging and giving thanks for the blessings in our lives.

So how do we overcome the darkness and get back to the light? The answer is very simple; the “doing” is the challenge: turn on the light! We have access to the light because God has given us access: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2Cor 4:6) There is hope in Jesus in every time of darkness. This is His promise: (Luke 1:79) “To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Even though we have this access, we must do something to “turn it on.”

So, here are the steps to get back into the Son-light:

1. Listen for God’s voice. God says to “be still and know that I am God.” This requires some effort on our part. 1Kings 19:11-12 says, “Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.’ And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.” A lot of our problems are that we are not being still and listening for that quiet voice, but allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the “loud” things in our lives.

Read our Bibles! It is God’s Word after all.

2. Seek Him in every situation. He’s there; it’s a matter of you using your spiritual eyes to see Him. He’s promised to never leave nor forsake us, so it makes sense that he’s always there, doesn’t it? He also tells, plainly, that if we seek Him, we will find Him.

3. Praise Him in every situation. There is nothing in your life that happens that he’s not aware of – nothing! We need to offer praise even the things that we wouldn’t ordinarily think of as “good” things. He has promised to work everything to the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

4. Give thanksgiving in every circumstance. We are commanded to do so (1Thes. 5:18; Col. 3:17), but in doing so, we are reminded of Who God is and what He has done for us. We deserve the death penalty and He has given life. I believe that alone deserves gratitude, don’t you?

We are told, in Ephesians 5:8, to “walk as children of light.” There is only one way to do so, we must stay plugged in to the source of light.

And It Was Night

“…he (Judas Iscariot) then went out immediately. And it was night." John 13:30

This summer, we will be hiking to the bottom of Grand Canyon. One of the challenges of this hike is the vast temperature differential between day and night. Daytime temps can easily hit 100*F or higher, while night time temps dip to the mid 60’s. This type of temperature swing is very common in desert areas. If you’ve ever experienced these 30-40 degree swings, you’ll know why they pose such difficulties. Your body adapts to the extreme heat of the day, and then, at night even normally reasonable temperatures feel extremely cold to your body.

Night-time also brings other problems with it, and not just in the desert. In the wilderness, there are the nocturnal hunters, whose night vision far surpasses our own (lions, tigers and bears – Oh my!). In the city, there are other types of “hunters” looking for easy prey under the cover of darkness. “People love the darkness because their deeds are evil.” (John 3:19)

It is also extremely easy to become disoriented in the darkness. Without the daylight, landmarks are obscured, so navigation is made more difficult and any obstructions or hazards are that much more difficult to see. It is so important to have a light of some kind, lantern or flashlight, when you go hiking. You just never know when, or if, you will run into trouble and need to find your way in the dark.

We find the same problems in every other facet of our lives also. Let me explain.

The first passage quoted above is referencing what is known as the Last Supper. Jesus, Judas and the rest of the apostles are enjoying their final meal together. Judas was a man with problems (aren’t we all), but he was not without hope of God’s grace and forgiveness – yet. As long as he was in the presence of Jesus, he had that light. So it is with us - as long as we walk in Jesus’ presence, we have access to that same light.

You see, Jesus is THE light that we need to take with us. He is the never-ending source, constant stream of light for our lives. John 8:12 says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Also, Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Judas’ leaving was literal, as was the darkness. It was also symbolic spiritually. As long as we are with Jesus, we are in the light. When we leave his presence we are in the darkness. When Judas got up to leave, he was making a decision. The decision was to leave the presence of Jesus and when he did so, he went out into “the night.” Any time we step out from Jesus' presence we are, in effect, leaving the light for the darkness.

There are many ways "the night," or the darkness of life, is manifested in our lives. We are in darkness because of:

1. blindness – God has promised His children, those who have believed in Jesus as their Savior, a life of abundance. But, because of our spiritual blindness, we can’t see the light. John 1:4-5 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” We are a prisoner to this blindness, but that is why Jesus came to Earth – to rescue us from that prison (“To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house” - Isaiah 42:7), and to restore our “sight” ("The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed” - Luke 4:18).

2. disobedience/guilt – Think back to the story of Adam and Eve. They were only told not to do one thing. And, like any good child, that is the one thing they did! And like any good child, they felt guilty about what they had done. When I was a kid, when I knew I had done something wrong, I ran and hid from my mom for as long as I could. I know most of us are no different. Neither were Adam and Eve – “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."

3. Weariness/circumstances – This point is illustrated by the prophet Elijah. He had just seen God whip all of the false prophets of the false god Baal in a contest and now he was discouraged because the reigning king of Israel was out to get him. We find him having a swell pity party in 1Kings 19:4, “But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!"

We’ve all found ourselves in these circumstances at one time or another. The darkness just seems so gloomy and heavy and there seems to be no escape from it. But there is a common cause and a way of escape. We’ll find out what it is --- next time.