Partial Knowledge

In his book The Man Who Was Thursday G.K. Chesterton put these words in the mouth of one of his characters: "We have only known the back of the world." It must certainly be remembered that our knowledge of the world is partial. Paul said we see through a glass darkly. Looking at the world - or life - is like looking at the back side of something woven. You cannot see the pattern clearly. And not only is it true that our knowledge of the world is incomplete. So is our knowledge of God. In a sense, we are like Moses. He saw only the back side of God. So do we. There are many things about God we can neither explain nor understand because we have been given only this limited view of Him. But someday we shall know as we are known and we shall see Him face to face.

-Robert Shannon, Preaching March/April 1999