Source of Confidence
I was confident I knew the directions back to my house. Just backtrack, right? When I merged onto the freeway, I had no doubt I was going the right direction. So off I drove, into the dark night, with confidence.
At just 16, newly licensed as a driver, and long before GPS, it turned out I was mistaken. Over an hour away from home, I had entered the 405 going north, when I should have gone south. By the time I figured out exactly where I was, it was an hour later, and I was still far from home. Now it was late. My tank was nearly empty. I only had 63 cents in my pocket. A very scary experience. My initial confidence proved sorely wrong.
Siri, or some other voice, calmly speaking directions from my GPS, would have given me a a more reliable sense of confidence. That technology gives Wendi and me a feeling of peace, confident that our kids, all of whom drive a lot, can find their way around Southern California and beyond. No paper maps or Thomas Guides. No having to rely on memory. The wonder of audiovisual directions, nearly always perfectly accurate, wherever one wants to go. Confidence in driving.
Many in the world today put an undue amount of confidence in technology. They are mostly humanistic philosophies, all embracing a worldview totally independent of the supernatural. These naturalists believe that this physical life is all we have and if we are going to preserve or extend it in any way, it will be as a result of human endeavor. Medical science and other kinds of technologies will, they say, come up with the answers to the problems that plague humanity.
Speaking of plaguing humanity, we are currently in the midst of a global pandemic called the novel coronavirus or COVID-19. It is growing, and we are very blessed in our country to have the best healthcare system and medical researchers in the world. They are feverishly working around the clock to develop readily available testing and a vaccine for this highly contagious and deadly virus. Politicians are doing what they can, while alternatively blaming, praising, dividing, and coming together in response to the crisis.
In the meantime, the president has put a Christian at the helm of overseeing our response to the challenge. Naturally, Vice President Pence chose, as one of his first responses, to pray. And just as naturally, he was mocked by many in the media, most of whom appear only to have confidence in human wisdom.
The sad part is that those who refuse to look to God, especially in times like this, are driving the wrong direction, albeit with confidence. As with my teenage inexperience, it's misplaced confidence. Yes, we are praying that human beings will discover a cure to this pandemic. A sudden, inexplicable (except for God) miracle would be nice, too. Christians everywhere are praying that those who are afflicted with the illness will survive and be restored to health quickly.
What the naturalists miss is that when they speak of “discovering” a vaccine, it presupposes the existence of something that can be used as a vaccine. In other words, the best humanity can do is discover what God, in His infinite wisdom and creative power, has made, that can be effectively applied by the brains He designed and gave us. If not for God, there would be nothing to discover.
If it weren’t for that presupposition, the first vaccines likely never would have been discovered. Those scientists believed in a God of design, order and answers. They believed the answers could be discovered. Starting with belief in God gives true confidence, setting us in the right direction, from the beginning.
“Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”
─Psalm 124:8