I’m sure most of you have heard the saying “I know just enough to be dangerous.” What does this really mean? Well, perhaps it means we know some things, but we don’t know enough to be experts at a particular thing. We know that we still have some learning ahead of us. So, it would be wise of us to work with what we know until we learn what we do not know.
It’s a wise thing for us to have the discipline to live and work with what we know and to refrain from trying live by what we do not know. Our knowledge of what is good and best for us is probably never good enough or best enough to keep us safe from ourselves. Our knowledge must be tempered by something greater than us—the wisdom of God.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is talking with the people of Israel while they are still in the desert. He reminds them of the times they were disobedient to the things God told them to do and things He asked them not to do. He explains that because they disobeyed, none of them would be able to enter the Promised Land.
Moses goes on to say, only their little ones, those who did not yet have any knowledge of good or evil, only those would be able to enter the Promised Land. The little ones didn’t have the sense to be disobedient to the things of God. They knew just enough to be safe because they knew enough to know that they should obey their fathers who would care for them.
In Genesis 2:16-17, God tells Adam, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In many ways this is a difficult scripture passage to know. But let’s not make it difficult.
We do not have to know more than what God is saying, to know what God is saying. He told Adam don’t eat from this tree; if you do, you will die. Most of us know that Eve came along a bit later and was tricked to eat from the tree, and she had Adam to do the same. They disobeyed God.
God gave them just enough knowledge to live safely forever. They knew enough to be safe, but they learned enough to be dangerous. Just like those little children in the desert, God cries out to us to be mindful of trying to figure out everything about life. Just as satan tricked Eve into thinking she and Adam could handle knowing more about life than they knew, satan tries to trick us today into believing we know more about what we do not know.
We do not have to have answers to all the things that will become questions in our lives. Does knowing that make you feel like you are missing something? It should not. That is what caused Eve to fall. A child does not know good from evil, yet we provide for their security and for their welfare.
Just like little children, God wants us to know that He will provide for our safety and welfare when we learn to know enough to be obedient. Where did the earth come from? I don’t know, and I don’t care; God created it. Why does the sun hang out in the sky and never gets too close to the earth? I don’t know, and I don’t care; God keeps it in its place. How do the oceans know how far to come ashore? I don’t know, and I don’t care; God orders the movement of the oceans.
Let’s not be a people who know just enough to be dangerous with what we do not know. Instead, let’s become disciplined and good at knowing the things that God has allowed us to know. Long life and prosperity will come to us when we learn, live, and obey as if we are little children who know no good or evil.
Ask the Lord to help you learn just enough to be safe with what you know. Then you will live a fruitful life in the Promised Land here that God has reserved for those of us who know Him and who live obediently and in satisfaction with what He reveals to us.
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