The Knowledge of Eve

Knowledge of Eve

"Knowledge has to be acquired by hard work; none of it is flung at our heads gratis." (Eve, circa 2)

If I were to hand you a map and I guaranteed there to be a million dollar prize if you followed that map to the place marked with an "X", do you suppose you might take that map and attempt to follow it? I would dare say you would. I would, if the situation were reversed. Now, if that map had a traced route to that "X" which included going through shark infested waters and alligator infested swamps, and up mountains which would require you to use climbing gear...THEN, would you attempt it? Most likely, yes....after all, a million dollars is a million dollars, right?

Well, how about this then. If I were to hand you a book and say that treasures exist in this book that far exceed the value of a million dollars, would you attempt to find those treasures? I would also dare say you would, if you believed that those treasures were guaranteed. What if, though, that not just reading that book was good enough, what if there were stories, tales and even parables from which you had to glean the meaning in order to find those treasures, as the meanings were not usually stated flat out? Would you search in those stories? Again, probably, if the guarantee was there.

Of course, you know to what book I refer. And you know that I mean just reading the Bible is probably not good enough for the majority of us. Most of us have to actually study, and think about, what the many stories and parables actually mean. We all know that the guarantee is there, don't we? The guarantee of a permanent existence alongside God. Isn't that worth a whole lot more than a million bucks? I believe that in order to receive that guarantee, that we must obtain a lot of knowledge. Not just about the alphabet, or algebra or arithmetic. No, I am talking about obtaining knowledge of God. Of His love. Of His omnipresence. Of His commands.

In our schooling, we gained knowledge of several subjects. We used that knowledge, or some of it, to live our lives. We also have the opportunity, if we desire to take it, to gain knowledge about our Creator. The One who already knows all. That book to which I referred earlier, tells us how we can gain knowledge. It is not easy. It is not "flung" at us, we usually have to work for it. Reading the Bible is not always easy....especially when you read Deuteronomy and Leviticus (those laws seem pretty far-fetched at times), and Revelation (all those allegories and visions). Even reading the parables of God as a human, Jesus, the meanings are not usually very clear. We have to have help a lot of times in understanding them, or we have to do some deep studies and remain in deep thought to figure them out..

Proverbs 2, verses 1 through 6, go like this:

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

My favorite passages in the entire Bible, come from Psalm 119. Starting in verse 97, the psalmist writes these four:

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.

Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.

I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.

I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.

And lastly, Proverbs 1, verse 7, makes a very bold statement:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Wow! "Accepting words", "crying aloud for understanding", "applying my heart", "meditating on laws all day long", "fearing the Lord"! These are all messages from our Bible that tell us how important knowledge is. But what do we normally do about getting knowledge? Nothing. Unless someone hands us a map of it, and its path is easy. Going to Sunday services is sort of like that. It is not difficult to go to church. And sitting for an hour or so is not that hard either. We can listen to the preaching and gain some knowledge. But to take it any further than that, most of us don't. Oh yeah, we MIGHT go to midweek, that is if there isn't a traffic accident on the way, or my boss 'demanding' that I stay late at work, or I had more important things to do than listen to knowledge about God. Oh, I know. I hear the 'excuses' plenty. THAT part of gaining knowledge, just became more difficult. And if we don't even attend a mid-week service to hear about God: His laws, His love, His omnipresence, I have serious doubt we do it at other times as well. I mentioned above that reading about God, all about God, in the Bible is sometimes not very easy. It is hard sometimes to gain the knowledge we seek. That is because the path seems to go through a lot of dangerous places along the way, just like my pretend map. We have to dare to cross that persecution-infested swamp. We have to maneuver around the obstacles of pride and arrogance. We have to tiptoe lightly across the bridge of lust and sexual immorality. We have to avoid the pitfalls associated with using our own personal precious time on ourselves, rather than reading and studying the Word of God. Our mapped route to our guaranteed treasure, where the big "X" is, is not easy.

I don't believe God made it easy for us to learn. The only person I could find in the Bible where God gave wisdom easily, was to Solomon. To everyone else, it seemed they had to work for it. But even Solomon found that haven been 'given' knowledge, was harmful to his life at times. Read Ecclesiastes, and you will see what I mean. No, I think Solomon would have much preferred to have worked for his knowledge, and he himself probably would have reached his final conclusions much earlier in his life. I believe also, that this applies to us today. We often pray, or at least I do, for wisdom and knowledge. Now, I am not saying that is a bad thing, but more than likely, the way God is going to answer my prayer, is ask me what have I done to have earned that knowledge? What have I been studying? What have I been seeking earnestly? If my answer to Him is simply, I just want to know things, He probably will laugh and give me another test. Oh, by the way. You want to know how to make God laugh? .... Tell Him YOUR plan. Sorry, that was 'extra', no charge. Back to knowledge.

Read and study. Seek answers. Research. Pray. That is how you can obtain the knowledge you need. But you have to WORK at it. I am talking about your Bible studies. Are they just cursory reviews? Are they simply reading and memorizing a few verses? Are they short in duration, like maybe an hour a day.....or even less? How can you expect to obtain the knowledge necessary to please God? He is complicated. So are His commands (well, most of them anyway).....He used men to write HIS story, in our Bibles today. He intended for us to work at studying what he wants us to do. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and that is not what God intentioned. He wants only those who earnestly seek Him, to find Him. And that is not usually as simple as being handed a million dollar map with a simple route traced on it.

Eve was right when she said that hard work is required; that knowledge will not be handed out freely to us. We should take her advice.

PS. By the way, Eve probably never said that quote above, but Mark Twain wrote it that way as if she HAD (in the book I am reading, The Bible According to Mark Twain). And, if she, or anyone else in the Bible had actually made that statement, I would tend to believe that is what God intended. As a matter of a fact, I believe it anyway.

PPS. I am still anxiously awaiting several homework assignments from the "TO" addressees.