Are You Sure You're Sure?

The Scripture from Nehemiah 8 is sometimes known as the "Watergate Account", not because it has anything to do with a major theft of political significance, but simply because it says,

"All the people gathered into the square
before the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the
scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses...
and he read from it facing the square before the
Water Gate from early morning until midday." (Neh. 8:1,3)

If you were to ask the folks of the Old Testament, "How can you be sure you are sure?" they would simply say, "You can be sure, because it's in the Book."

Unfortunately, we have argued so much about our interpretations of the Book, that although every religious group sounds "sure", the results are very "unsure". A modern under‑arm deodorant uses television to promote the idea that some people raise their arms and they are "sure". You see, they use the right deodorant! Others are hesitant to raise their sweaty arms, because they are "unsure".

In II Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12, we find the intrepid Paul saying: "I know whom I have believed, and I am sure..." I love that verse, and I only wish I could be as sure as the apostle Paul seemed to be.

Sometimes I am envious of the certainty of some of the independent church groups, who have no doubt that they are absolutely right about every doctrine they proclaim. Since we cannot know all that God knows, don't we need a bit more humility than that? Someone has said that the only persons who are absolutely sure of themselves in today's world are the politicians. And the world is filled with gullible people who fall for their self‑proclaimed authority.

I suppose faith is a risky thing. Most of us have concluded that science is "sure"...faith is "unsure". And yet listen to the wizard of science, Thomas Edison saying,

"We don't know the millionth part of one percent,
about anything. We don't know what water is. We don't
know what light is. We don't know what gravitation is.
We don't know what enables us to keep on our feet when
we stand up. We don't know what electricity is. We
don't know what heat is. We don't know anything
about magnetism. We have a lot of hypotheses about
these things, but that is all. But we do not let our
ignorance about all these things deprive us of their
use."

If the "scientific method" is not always "sure", what is? Are there other ways of knowing truth? For example, I know that Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" is a beautiful number. Debussy's

"Reverie" really "sends me"! I know that Tchaikovsky's "Andante Cantabile" is a moving piece of music. But because I am not using a scientific procedure, does it therefore mean that it is not true?

Amelia Burr once wrote:
"I am not sure the earth is round
Nor that the sky is really blue,
The tale of why the apples fall
May or may not be true.
I do not know what makes the tides
Nor what tomorrow's world may do,
But I have certainty enough
For I am sure of you."

When Jesus took the Scriptures, and said, "Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing," he was telling us that the yardstick of interpretation of the spiritual truths of the world, come not from a book of Law, or from a Pope, or from a pulpit‑pounding evangelist, but from Him.

We may not have all the answers, but we have enough. We do not need a lawyer to forge out the intricacies of all the 66 books of the Bible for us. There is One who walked this life before us, and who walked it perfectly and beautifully, and our job is to become like Him.

A little boy flying his kite was asked by a friend how he knew the kite was still there, when it got so high he could hardly see it. He replied, "I know it is there, because I can feel the tug of it."

How can we be sure there is a God who cares, who gives strength to those who are weak, and who gives power to the faint? The answer is, because of Jesus Christ in my heart, I can feel
the tug of Him in my soul, and because of that I am sure!