"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way" (Prov. 19:2, NW).
I got a newsletter from my Christian book club with a list of concerts to be held in the next few months. Hella Heizmann, one of my favorite Christian singers was due to hold a concert in Schoemberg. Oh, that was just tine; it was only about 25 kilometers away. Of course I would go there. I phoned the contact number to find out about the location and time. The man on the phone asked where we would be coming from and then said, "Oh, you are coming from so far away." We thought he had a funny notion of what "far" is.
So I drove to the town on the specified night and started looking for the "Kurhaus" (main building in a spa) where the concert was to be held. But there was not one single poster in sight in the whole town. That was a bit funny. I asked a few passerbys where the Kurhaus would be. But there was no Kurhaus either! They directed me to the municipal hall but that was deserted.
Finally one lady said, "Maybe you mean Schoemberg in the Black Forest. That's about 100 kilometers from here. That's a spa and there is a Kurhaus there."
Well, I had to laugh at my stupidity. I didn't know that there was more than one Schoemberg and as the zip code started with a 7, I was sure it was in our region. I hadn't looked it up in the book. I relied on my limited knowledge and experience.
As I drove home with my daughter, I started wondering if I was superficial in more important matters as well. r had to think of what Jesus said to His disciples concerning the time shortly before His second coming, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time" (Matt. 24:24, 25, NW, italics supplied).
If I had looked up the zip code, would not have been deceived into going to a wrong place. God has given us His book so that we can look up things and be sure. But if we don't bother to find out, we will surely be deceived. And we'd better take time to find out about things now so that we are not guided by our limited and superficial knowledge and experience as I was.
Besides, if I had really listened to what the man on the phone at the contact number said, I should have realized that I was thinking of some other place than he was. But I was so wrapped up in my own expectations that the bell didn't ring at that time. I didn't understand what he was really saying. Similarly, if we pray to God and don't listen to what He has to say to us with open ears, we probably will not understand His message. We expect a certain kind of answer and don't realize that God is answering in a better or different way.
At least I learned a lesson from my experience and decided to be more careful the next time. But if we are deceived in more important matters, there will be no next time. So let's take time today to find out what God has to say to us through His word and in prayer.
