We're not short of information
The princess called Curdie to
carry out a mission for her but she hadn’t given him a lot of
information so he asked, "But where am I to go, ma’am, and what am I to
do? You have given me no message to carry, neither have you said what I
am wanted for. I go without a notion whether I am to walk this way or
that, or what I am to do when I get I don’t know where." But the
princess was having none of it and in a tone that clearly implied he
needed to listen well she said, "Curdie! Did I not tell you to tell your
father and mother that you were to set out for the court? And you know
that lies to the north. You must learn to use far less directions than
that. You must not be like a dull servant that needs to be told again
and again before he will understand. You have orders enough to start
with, and you will find, as you go on, and as you need to know, what you
have to do...I have one idea of you and your work, and you have
another. I do not blame you for that—you cannot help it yet; but you
must be ready to let my idea, which sets you working, set your ideas
right."
George McDonald’s princess (in Curdie and the Princess)
teaches us what the Bible everywhere teaches us—good and sensitive
servants don’t need exhaustive blueprints. (It's people that aren't
trusted that--for one reason or another--need a galaxy-full of
instructions.) Certainly God’s servants haven’t been given an exhaustive
blueprint and there are a host of obvious reasons why that would be so.
But even if we didn’t know the why and wherefore of God’s keeping from
us such a blueprint, the fact of the matter is that he hasn’t given us
one. And if he hasn’t given us one then, obviously, we have no need for
one.
The way to go is to embrace and live in the light of the truth God
has given us. If we side step and quibble about the plain truth, what
makes us think that our problem is that we don’t have enough
truth? It isn’t for us to quarrel with what God has clearly told us but
neither is it for us to whine about not getting sufficient specific
information. But that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? A lot of people
want to tell us that if God hasn’t exhaustively instructed us in every
area of life that he hasn’t been "sufficiently explicit". But God would
tell us what the princess told Curdie. We have orders enough to go on
with!
I’m one of the millions that believe that God doesn’t need to add
another word to Scripture. He has been explicit enough. Some think that
"explicit enough" has to mean that he has given exhaustive instructions
on this, that and the other. They miss the point! In Romans 12:1-3 Paul
insists that as we are transformed by presenting ourselves to God as we
say no to the world that we will know what is the good, acceptable and
perfect will of God. We have enough orders to go on with. Obey without
haggling what he has plainly taught us and by his grace live out holy
obedience and we will know as much as we need to know.
The real problem isn’t a lack of information—it’s a lack of formation.