HUMAN SOLUTIONS
Mensa is an organization of geniuses, with membership requiring an IQ of at least 140. During a Mensa convention in San Francisco, several members were sharing lunch. Someone noticed their saltshaker contained pepper and the peppershaker was filled with salt. They went to work, figuring out a way to switch the contents, using only implements at their table. With a combined IQ approaching 1000, their Einstein-like brains developed a complex solution, involving an empty saucer, a napkin and a straw.
They waved for the waitress, anxious to impress her with their intellectual prowess. “We noticed that the saltshaker contains pepper and the peppershaker…”
The waitress interrupted them. “Sorry about that.” She unscrewed both caps and promptly switched them, leaving the geniuses with their jaws dropping.
Don’t you love it when the brilliance of the brilliant is confounded? That’s exactly what God did at the cross, saving the world through two pieces of wood used for torture. Like the Mensa geniuses, nobody saw that coming! In 1 Corinthians one, Paul writes, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (verse 20). “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom” (verse 25). “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (verse 27).
For thousands of years, mankind wrestled with this question: “How can I get right with God?” Maybe if we try harder to keep more laws? Or doing more good deeds? Or what about giving more money to buy God’s favor? Nothing worked. Try as we might, we couldn’t seem to “get the salt in the right shaker.” Then God stepped in and (voila!) problem solved.
It’s no different today. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the world is in a mess. All the brilliance of our human solutions repeatedly fail us. The media floods us with a deluge of information (or misinformation) like a broken hydrant.
What if we take a break from it for a while? What if we let go of trying to figure out what God’s doing and trust him with the spider-web of confusion? What if we recognize we don’t have the answers—politically, socially, or theologically? Even if we’re convinced we’ve found “the answer,” we’re wrong. We’re all wrong. It’s actually comforting. Let’s look to the One who has the answers. Not Mensa. Not the “experts.” But the One who knows everything. His name is Jesus.
Principle: Let go of trying to figure out what God’s doing and trust him.
Ponder:
How am I like the Mensa geniuses in our story?
What steps do I need to take to disconnect from trying to solve the world’s problems?
Pursue: For a deeper dive, study I Corinthians 1:18-31.
Prayer: “Lord, forgive me for exerting so much effort to solve the world’s problems. Help me to surrender it all to you, trusting that you have a perfect plan.”
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