Things Beyond Understanding

There is a quality that many of us have in common, and that is our unwillingness to believe what we don’t understand. It requires a man of faith to believe what he does not or cannot understand. Lack of understanding often causes men of little learning to doubt or distrust anything that isn’t easy to explain. For the same reason – lack or understanding – often men of much learning are inclined to question the purposes , the judgments, and decisions of God, especially with respect to life and death, because their faith is not sufficient. Because they do not understand how the words of the prophets are to be fulfilled, there are those who choose to doubt that the prophets have ever spoken under inspiration. Because they do not understand how the process of everlasting life is to be brought about, there are those whose faith fails them in believing that it will be brought about. And because they fail to understand, men often fail to follow the pattern and principles that would lead them to their highest possibilities. Often we fail to believe or accept what we cannot explain. But one might as reasonably say that because we do not understand why hydrogen and oxygen make water, we do not believe in water. It is fortunate that truth is not limited by our understanding of it; it is fortunate that the law is not limited by our knowledge of it; it is fortunate that the ways of Nature are not limited by the ignorance of man – and it is also fortunate for us that our lack of knowledge, or faith, or understanding does not change fundamental facts. If it depended on our understanding, this wouldn’t be much of a world.