(Alternate Title: Stop Seeing Just The Staff!)
“Moses objected, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’” So God said, “What’s that in your hand?” “A staff.” “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back—fast!God said to Moses, “Reach out and grab it by the tail.” He reached out and grabbed it—and he was holding his staff again. “That’s so they will trust that God appeared to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 4: 1-5 The Message Bible)
Cognitive, as defined by the Merrill-Webster Dictionary, “involves intellectual activity, such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering.” The same source gives a second definition of cognitive: “based on or capable of being reduced to empirical, factual data.”
Look, I know it is Sunday morning and you are about to head out to church, for certainly you do not want to miss the message that the Lord has sent specifically for you for a specific purpose at a specific time; the specific time being today. However, let me just have your attention for a couple of minutes to present an appetizer, also sent by God on high. As on many occasions, I see how what I am about to write applies to me, but the audience that God wants to hear this is much larger and this audience, well, it includes you.
Here’s your appetizer. When we face a problem, initially, by instinct, or as a result of our instruction received in the informative halls of education and the indoctrination that we got in solving complex problems, we immediately try to figure out things based on what we see. At time, we resort to figuring things out on the cognitive only. We come to conclusions often times, based on the result of those things in the definitions of “cognitive” above. Look at the definitions again before going to the next paragraph.
I for one admit that I recently was guilty of trying to make some decisions on how I could use the skills that I have attained as a member of the workforce, and I was weighing my options, solely from a cognitive perspective. Finally, thank God, it came to my attention that I need to cancel the consideration of the cognitive only, in other words stop considering options based on what I could see or conceive in my mind, and depend on God, the One who sees what we cannot see from the past, present, and future perspective. Yes, I had to decrease my contemplation on my future solely based on the cognitive, and incorporate the fact that as a believer, I need to walk by faith and not by sight. I have to make sure to include an awareness of the fact that faith is defined in Hebrews as “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.” Sometimes, like Moses’ eyes in the scripture above, I just see the staff. Sometimes, I just see based on my cognitive ability, as opposed to what the Creator sees. I know I need to repeatedly recall the fact, based on scripture, that hope puts eyes on our faith. Furthermore, I need to press on to whatever lies ahead, committed to pleasing God, knowing that without faith it is impossible to please Him.
Perhaps you did not need this mediation at the moment, but mark my words, you will find it beneficial at some time in your life. Now, go and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. This is not only a day that the Lord has made, causing us to rejoice in it, but it is the Lord’s Day; the day where the saints practice for a great gathering in heaven that will take place when all God’s children get together. Praise God saint! Be blessed!
“Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NASB)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King