Insightful Musings on theScriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Greetings, dear people.
Wow! Already after noon! No wonder I sense my old man nap coming on so powerfully!
Lots going on. My milling job encountered a hiccup. So I hauled my equipment home yesterday. But now I’m pulled by the main landowner to return to finish up. Before I do, I need to knock out some other milling needs heavy with importance. My work is a constant juggling act.
I hope you are a better juggler than I am. Blessings on your efforts.
Love, Dad/Ray.
I love that old proverbial story about the flea hanging out on the back of an elephant. After the elephant lumbers across a stressed bridge, the flea moves up close to the elephant’s ear and hollers, “Wow! We sure shook that bridge, didn’t we?!” The absurd self-flattering view of the flea’s power and control is on a par with how many puny humans view lots of things—like global climate control—or even the achievement of global peace between all us flea-like humans.
Can you imagine the escalation of human arrogance that would result if it could be truly established that man, by his brilliance and technology, actually corrected adverse climate conditions, stopped volcanoes from erupting, prevented cyclones and tsunamis, totally eliminated earthquakes, and halted all sickness, hunger, poverty, and suffering? What if he could go so far with his science, technology, and administration so as to actually prevent aging and stop death? We would have people in high places applauding themselves with over-the-top high-mindedness—“Look what we have done!” I believe the fact is that God graciously allows these kinds of global problems to exist because they provide a very valuable benefit to man toward balancing his sense of self-sufficiency and self-importance—prompting him to look up in the face of circumstances that are simply beyond his ability to control.
Can you imagine a song any more appropriate for a human “flea” to sing than one that might go—“Oh, Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made—I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder—Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, how great Thou art!”