One of the delights of parenting older kids is watching them discover and enjoy their individual interests. My daughters often start conversations or change the subject by brightly saying, “Fun fact!”
With one daughter interested in all things nature, her “fun facts” are often things I legitimately didn’t know. My other daughter is always up to date on the latest news and political arguments, so sometimes we hear, “Fun fact! Well, not so fun, but …”
In any case, part of our family culture is sharing what we’ve learned.
My husband and I once spent two hours on a video call with our daughter at college as she brought us into the world of her then-favorite band, a Swedish heavy metal group. She showed us music videos, explained “the lore” of the latest album, and so on. I knew more than I ever wanted to about probably my least favorite type of music. If I just went by my interest in the facts, I might have thought those hours wasted. But I was interested in knowing and loving my daughter. Watching her face light up and hearing her enthusiasm as she shared her delight with us was well worth the time.
As a person who loves to learn, I naturally gravitate toward knowing and understanding more, and that infuses my faith as well. I love not just reading the Bible but also going deep into the notes of my study Bible—and sometimes looking up the original languages on an app if I’m really on a roll.
But learning more about the Bible or reading books on theology or even participating in a Bible study group doesn’t necessarily translate to a deeper faith. Knowing facts and knowing a person are two different things.
Years ago, my pastor taught a somewhat advanced Lutheran doctrine class. Partway through, I hit a wall in my understanding. One of the concepts just didn’t make sense to me. No matter how I thought about it, I could not come to any conclusion that answered all my questions satisfactorily. I read the section in the book again, still not able to grasp how that piece of doctrine went with the rest. It disturbed me. What if I couldn’t understand, or worse, got it wrong? Getting something wrong about God seems pretty high stakes, even dangerous.
As I prayed and read and struggled to understand, a thought came to me, I believe from the Holy Spirit: Could I put this struggle in God’s hands? Could I trust in God’s wisdom without fully understanding it?
I realized that even when my intellect and understanding fail, I can rest in God. God’s intellect, God’s understanding, is so much wider and higher than my own.
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with You.(Psalm 139:17–18)
God’s thoughts are—like God Himself is—so vast that human understanding necessarily fails. No matter how smart we are, how much we read and study, we will eventually reach the end, the point at which Lutheran theologians often say, “it’s a mystery.” Faith can never depend on knowledge alone. Knowing information about God is a worthy undertaking, but it cannot save us.
In today’s Western culture, lack of belief in God is common. Just coming to a belief that any god exists can be a significant step toward faith for some. Even so, faith in the God of the Bible is more than an intellectual exercise. Belief in God is a big step—but only a step—to trusting God.
Let’s say that you’re from a culture that doesn’t use chairs. A visitor can describe a chair to you, and you may be able to kind of visualize it and understand its purpose. When you see a chair, you can know all about how it works. You can look up how to tell if a chair is well made, figure out what material it’s made from, maybe even (for the super skeptical) learn woodworking or physics or the history of seating. No matter how much you study or how long you stand and examine a chair, the only way to make sure it will hold you is to sit down. That’s when you go from believing facts about a chair to trusting it with your weight.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
I am constantly tempted to lean on my own understanding, thinking that knowing one more fact will make life or faith make sense to my brain. But knowledge is not faith; trust is.
Is it important to read and study the Bible, to believe in God and know the facts of salvation? Yes, of course! It’s absolutely necessary for our spiritual growth. But we are called to trust and follow Jesus, not a study plan. Psalm 131 gives us a beautiful picture of trust.
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:1–2)
Fun fact! God doesn’t expect us to understand everything about Him. He asks us to trust Him like a child in the arms of her mother. A small child doesn’t know all the facts about or even understand much of anything save this: The child trusts her mother and feels safe and loved in her arms. The Holy Spirit creates that trusting faith through the Gospel and sustains and deepens it through God’s Word, Baptism, and Holy Communion.
Jesus invites us to look to Him and trust that He can bear the weight of our sin and suffering. We are safe and loved and have been given new life with Him. That’s the most fun fact of all!
Scripture: ESV®.