Martha Olawale

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5

My husband and I spent a good chunk of time living the graduate student life; little money, lots of books, and sleeplessness. With the demand and number of years getting a Ph.D. requires, one will think the knowledge gained through the process is wider. However, my husband once explained that it means becoming an expert in a particular area of knowledge for a particular period.

He said that having a doctorate in engineering does not mean you know everything about engineering; it only means you know a lot about a little. The knowledge you gain through the process is tied to your area of focus. Even at that, he said, if you don't continue to build on what you learn, your gained knowledge will become obsolete.

The most revolutionary theories have been built on or debunked, and no human can claim to know it all because there’s always something we lack in. Even the most brilliant man in the room fails at some point. And no matter how widely read or traveled we are, we can never cover all knowledge that spans space and time because our brains can only assimilate so much. We are limited by how far we can absorb and process knowledge, and our humanity bows to the universe's vastness, history, and future.

I was typing “I can do all things through Christ” on my phone, and the moment I wrote “I can do all things,” the device auto-filled with “by myself.” Our haughty hearts have created a charade that our human abilities reduce God’s majesty. The belief system that argues that, somehow, we know better than God is not just false but lacks wisdom. In His graciousness, God releases knowledge to man in bits and pieces so we can grasp a little more of His unsearchable greatness.

Even when humanity can make a home beyond the skies and figure out how to live beneath the ocean, what we know will always be limited by what we don’t know. Regardless of the knowledge we gain, the complexity and limitations of our humanity will always unravel in the face of adversities. And no matter how we've psyched ourselves into believing in the power of positive thinking, we crumble under the weight of forces beyond our control. We might be proficient in one thing and clueless about a million other things, but God is all Knowing.

Accepting our humanity and bowing to God's sovereignty dispels our fear of failing. A surrendered heart is a constant reminder that although we are limited, God is unlimited; though our humanity is finite, God’s divinity is infinite; we are mortal, and He is immortal. The strongest and wisest of us have “can'ts,” but God does not. Bringing our thoughts in subjection to honor God melts our struggles with making sense of life. Until we learn that only God can, we will live as slaves to the “can'ts” we face in life and break our backs under the burden of trying to fix things only God can fix.