Wednesday

Psalm 39

Numbers 13:17-27

Luke 13:18-21

Information. We want it. We crave it. We need it so much that we pay for it and pay to access it. We build libraries and server farms, monuments to the abundance of information we have amassed. We encourage informed decisions and believe that enough information can solve any problem. Our newest and most advanced machines no longer measure their effectiveness in horsepower, how much energy they bring to a task, but in processing power, how fast they can digest information. We call it by various names – data, statistics, studies, research, white papers, reports, intelligence – and have vast organizational networks dedicated to collecting, aggregating and protecting our information.

Consider the following questions:

Does having all this information help draw us closer to God?

Scientific progress has opened up a deeper understanding of God’s creation and provided for its preservation and care.

New networks for the distribution of information have helped illuminate the suffering of the poor and the outcast for all to see.

Or does an abundance of information keep us from God?

A reliance on information alone depends solely on the powers of human observation and understanding.

Processing the continual flood of information distracts from necessary time for listening for God’s voice.

Consider the Israelites in today’s lesson. God commanded Moses to send a representative group of men on an intelligence-collecting mission into Canaan, the land God had promised to them. Even without modern assets like satellites and predator drones the spies collected a substantial amount of information by the time they reported back. They brought a mixed bag of information. Some of it good – flowing milk and honey – some of it not so good – fortified cities and giants. Though God has promised the land to the Israelites and promised to defeat their opponents, the people fixate on bad news and out of fear discard their faith in God’s covenant. So God sends them back into the wilderness for another 40 years.

Collect data, study statistics and read research but remember that God’s wisdom surpasses all understanding, defies empirical quantification and overcomes statistical probabilities. Good information to remember when wandering in the wilderness.