Children in Understanding

In times of trouble and of tragedy, there are always those who would question the Creator, and

there are also those who would rule Him out of existence. There are those who, in their resentment

against ills and evils ask: It there is a God, why would He permit men to bring about such evil and

injustice? And not finding the answer, or not having sufficient faith, they sometimes deny His power and

personality. An eminent philosopher pronounced that man could neither prove nor disprove the

existence of God. But there are endless evidence of His existence, and there are testimonies and facts

before us – and even a philosopher can be wrong. But at least the last part of his pronouncement is true

– it is true that man cannot disprove the existence of God. The universe is too large, and there are too

many things unknown, even in our own world, to say nothing of outside our world, for the puny

presumption of man to say that there isn’t something he hasn’t seen. We have enough difficulty finding

out what there is in a drop of water, in a particle of dust; what makes a kernel of grain grow, without

presuming to encompass the entire universe and eliminate the power and personality of God – and they

who would do so, somehow remind us of the child who says that there is no ocean because he has never

been to the seashore. It was such “children,” such men who once said that the world was flat, and who

abused and burned those who had other evidence. It was such “children” who once disbelieved in the

existence of all manner of things that have since become commonplace. And to those who would

eliminate God from their lives – because things have gone wrong, or because we have seen a sick world

– let it be as Paul said: “Be not children in understanding” and don’t lose faith – no matter what we have

seen – or have failed to see.