“All men naturally desire knowledge,” said Aristotle. Both he and Plato agreed on this: that the pursuit of knowledge was the most important thing in life. In fact, they believed that this pursuit is the essence of what it means to be human. There was one thing that these eminent Greek philosophers did not take into consideration: that is man’s deep disinclination to face reality. To face reality is to realise that there is a God who has an absolute claim on our lives and that our pretensions to autonomy and independence are futile and offensive to the highest degree. This truth is innate within us and yet we suppress it (Romans 1:18ff). To face reality, therefore, we have to be willing. To know God is to be overshadowed by his transcendent power and authority. This is what it means to ‘fear the Lord’. It is to know his transcendent greatness and to see ourselves, and everything else, in the light of this fundamental reality. This experience of knowing God, says Solomon, is the beginning of true knowledge. Unless you are willing to know God as God, then your whole view of reality is a deliberate distortion designed to serve your pretence of autonomy. The truth is there to be found. We find it not by doing something initially. To find truth there is something we must stop doing: we must stop suppressing the truth. Throw down your defences and surrender to God. This is the only way to know him: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Are you willing to know the truth?
Surrender yourself to God and ask him to break down your defences.
Read Proverbs 1:1-7
