Not a Clue...

Have you ever been totally wrong about something?   Like those times when you are preparing to meet someone from a place where you have never been.  You begin wondering how you will communicate or whether the person will like you. It  can seem daunting and exciting  all at once.  But then, once you meet all those worries and concerns are pushed aside.  You had totally misread the situation because you really had nothing on which to base your fears and preparations.  Or perhaps as a child, you were caught doing something you had been told not to do.  Waiting for dad to get home and the discipline to begin, you plan all the ways to avoid it, or cope with it, only to learn that the discipline is easy; merciful. You were not prepared for it to unfold in the way it did, but you are definitely happy it did. 

             Totally wrong; it is something we cannot avoid as humans.  Often our foresight is shortsighted.  Our visions of what is going to happen are not really visions of the future but wishful thinking.   The idea that we can be totally wrong is not a comforting one, but it is true.  “The best laid plans,” as people say….

Totally wrong is the label I give to Eve’s assessment of attaining the knowledge of good and evil.  No matter how beautiful that fruit looked to her, no matter how wonderful the idea of being wise was, Eve’s assessment and Adam’s agreement were totally wrong.  Totally.   Think about this from our vantage point.  We know good and evil; we know murder and rescue, thievery and charity, hatred and love.  Adam and Eve knew nothing of murder, let alone death.  They had no concept of robbery, private property, ownership and certainly had not even known of hatred.  These were unknowns to them, more than that, these concepts-actions-were things that did not exist for them.  They couldn’t be known.  God, in His wise mercy, had not allowed them to be aware of these things even as a possibility.   The idea that grew in Eve’s mind, that she needed to know good and evil, that what was being denied her was something marvelous, was totally wrong.  Recall what happened the moment the first two humans turned from God.  As God had warned them, they began to die.  First to die was the confidence between Adam and Eve of love and acceptance.  They realized they were naked and they felt shame and so they covered themselves.  The knowledge of the good they had lost was piled on the knowledge of the evil of the human heart to judge another, to demean, hurt and shame another.  Second to die was the sweet friendship with the Creator as the two sinners hid themselves, like naughty children hiding under a bed.  The new knowledge of evil about rebellion and fear of deserved punishment for treasonous behavior was clear to them now.

More learning about the knowledge of evil follows at a stunning rate.  They learn all about self preservation at the expense of a spouse, they learn about weeds and dry, arid soil, about pain and separation and sorrow and banishment, of hard, fruitless work, of regret.  In a matter of minutes, the two of them became fully aware and knowledgeable about concepts, ideas and actions which they had never even dreamed was possible.   It was beyond imagining for them.  They had been transferred to an unknown place, by their own choice.  What was before totally unknown to them, was now home to them, and all their descendants.

Now as the doomed descendants of our knowledgeable foremother and forefather, we have also had the opportunity to choose.  We have the choice to choose to be redeemed or not; to be reunited with God or not.  For those of us who choose to be redeemed we have been given a promise, the promise of Heaven.  But I fear many of us are taking the old way of being Totally Wrong in our assessment of what Heaven really is.   Mainly because Scripture is not extravagant in descriptions of what it means to be in Heaven, we have created our own heavenly landscape.  Some characterizations have us sitting on clouds playing harps for eternity. It is a continual worship service, filled with music and singing say others.  BORING say some.   Then for many heaven is a great golf course or a perfect fishing spot.  For others, heaven is a place of eternal youth and lots of puppies and kittens.  No matter what Scripture tells us, we often want it our way, filled with what appeals to us.  

            When thinking about heaven remember how Totally Wrong Eve and Adam were in their ideas about the knowledge (THEY HAD NO IDEA ABOUT) of good and evil.  Recall too the words of 1Corinthians 2:9 " but just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all the God has prepared for those who love Him."

         Read that again;  eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and it is not even in the heart, this is what God has prepared for all who are redeemed.  The idea of a perfect fishing spot, eternal youth, harps and clouds, all these we have seen or heard of or at least imagined.  But Heaven is beyond our imagining.  It cannot be adequately described by us.  We may have some pictures, a beautiful bride, a city of gold, fruit trees and thrones, but these are descriptions for what is yet unseen and unimagined by us. 

        We look forward to this amazing, eternal existence, in the presence of God.  We do anticipate its beauty, but let us not limit it to our experiences or our imaginations.

Let us, like innocent, joyful children, be astonished, awed and merry when we finally see all that God had prepared for us.