Conquer the water! It was a campaign at the swimming pool. I’m guessing that it was an attempt to get people, who are afraid of water, to learn to swim. But the issue is really not about conquering the water; it’s about conquering our fear of the water. Yet the campaign has a certain appeal to it. If you are afraid of water, it’s probably easier to focus on conquering something you can see and touch (the water) as opposed to conquering something you can’t see and touch (your fear). And conquering something does resonate with many. The familiar usage of the word “conquer” is gain or acquire by force of arms. Another aspect of conquering is to gain mastery over by overcoming obstacles or opposition. It can also mean to overcome by mental or moral power. Given that conquering something has an attractive element to it, there’s a verse in Romans that seems to be the key to conquering anything and everything: “ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him w
In my last post, I wrote that that God keeps certain things hidden (Deut 29:29). In some cases, these hidden things are beyond our understanding. In response to that, one Psalmist wrote that he did not occupy himself with things too great and too wonderful for him (Ps 131:1). That’s a healthy response as we, as humans, are finite and cannot completely know everything about an infinite God. A quote attributed to American novelists, Philip Roth, speaks volumes on this: “All that we don’t know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.” From a more spiritual perspective, one commentator put it this way: "What God has thought proper to reveal, he has revealed what is essential to the well-being of man, and this revelation is intended not for the present time merely, nor for one people, but for all succeeding generations. The things which he has not revealed concern not man but God alone, and are therefore not to be inquired after." (Clarke’s C