But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.” -Exodus 5:2
Dear members and friends,
As I reflected on the Scripture readings for this Sunday, I was somehow reminded of my teacher, George F. Dole, who passed into the spiritual realm just a few months ago. He was the best teacher I ever had in my life. I would even go so far as to say that if he were not at the seminary, I might have walked out within six months. George was educated at Yale (BA), Oxford (MA), and Harvard (PhD), yet was a very humble person who listened carefully to the many questions of a 26-year-old Korean student with broken English. One thing George often repeated as the most important thing to remember was to be aware of our tendency to be arrogant, believing in the power of our brain and the knowledge contained within it. For this he told me a joke:
In the future, the scientists of the world finally figure out how to create a human out of dirt. In their pride, they all came before God and arrogantly proclaimed, “Look at this, God! We are now able to create a human out of dirt. We can do all things you do!” God looked down on them with a smile and said, “Great work, humans. Now, go get your own dirt.”
One thing that has been very true in my 30-year spiritual journey is that the more I study and understand, what becomes clearer in mind is the reality of how much I do not know. The only thing that I am absolutely certain of at this point is that the Creator (in whatever name we address and describe this Being) exists, and thus the whole world is created with a purpose. Therefore, our life has a purpose and meaning that is deeper and larger than the physical reality, whether we acknowledge and accept this truth or not. What better way to perceive the purpose of our own life than to learn this from the Creator who designed the whole thing? So then, why do we find simply trusting in God so challenging? In reflecting on this, this teaching of Jesus in Matthew comes to my mind, “you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” (11:25)
Blessings, Rev. Junchol Lee