A little knowledge ...

Those on the recent Spanish Experience trip with the Spanish Gospel Mission who brushed up on their knowledge of the local language made a wise choice. We travelled to the heartland of Spain, the high plateau in the centre of that large European country. Everyone assumes that Spanish people are so used to welcoming British tourists that they have all learned to speak English. True enough, many in the popular tourist destinations may well do so, but this is not the case in places off the beaten track.

As it turned out, I am not sure that any of the church pastors in the small group of churches we were visiting had fluent English. If you did not speak their language, you could not communicate with them – not directly, at any rate. To speak Spanish is therefore a huge advantage.

However, there is a snag. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You may well learn how to talk to the Spanish, but that means they are going to talk back to you. Now Spanish is spoken very fast - and it is not the easiest language for a foreigner to follow! You have made your best effort to communicate only to be faced with a torrent of words that you have no chance of piecing together. You have no choice but to ask the speaker to repeat what he or she has just said. There is no guarantee even then that it will make sense the second time round.

There are places in the Bible, too, where a little knowledge backfires. In Acts 19 we read of Jewish magicians who tried to use the name of Jesus in order to exorcise demons. They had picked up that the name of Jesus was powerful, yet when they used it they found that they had bitten off more than they could chew. They were taught a very sharp and salutary lesson. I believe they are not alone. Many of the secret societies in this country who seek to play at, or play with, religion fail to understand the forces that they are messing around with as they do so.

Here is the story of the Jewish exorcists:

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims." Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. (ESV)

How do we counter the problem of having that little knowledge which is a dangerous thing? Well, obviously, to learn the basics well, but also to keep on learning. We need to make it our business to reach the point where we can move confidently yet humbly in the experiences of faith. To help us, we need to live, move and breathe the company of those who have been forged in the fires of experience and now walk closely with God. We do not idolise them, but we take note of what they say. They may be able to help us when we get our fingers burned in the religious contacts that we make. It is a shame to see anybody suffering bad experiences in a church for lack of knowledge of how to do the right thing. We need to be well practised in our skills and look for that day when everything will be transparent. On that day we shall lack no knowledge. All shall be clear to us. Best of all, everything about us will be clear to God.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12