What we now know – Sunday, January 12, 1958
Last week we talked somewhat of the desire to see farther into the future, and quoted Emerson to the effect that further knowledge, further revelation, further truth, comes as we are willing and able to receive and accept it. Further it is a fact that we already know, basically and along broad lines, much more concerning the future than we sometimes seem to suppose. But we often ignore what we know.
We know now that if we study, if we learn, if we use our time well, we shall be better prepared for the future. But even knowing this, we still waste much of time, much of life, in more or less aimless activity—or inactivity.
We know right now that if we are thoughtful and careful and courteous, we are less likely to have accidents. But even knowing this, we often ignore the laws of safety.
We know right now that if we live moderately and refrain from taking injurious substances into ourselves, we shall feel better, and have better health. But even knowing this, we often ignore the laws of health, and lay ourselves open to illness.
We know right now that if we keep the commandments, we shall have a quiet conscience—that if we break laws, we shall pay a price. (We shall pay it inside ourselves, whether anyone else knows it or not). But even knowing this, we still break commandments and laws, and pay a price. We know that if we are unfaithful, we shall lose the confidence of others.
We know right now that if we don’t pay our debts, we shall lose our credit, All these things, and many more, we now know as surely as if the future were laid before us. But we don’t always live as if we knew what we know.
This must have been what Emerson meant when he said, that “it is not in an arbitrary ‘decree of God,’ but in the nature of man that a veil shuts down on the facts of tomorrow; for the soul will not have us read any other but that of cause and effect. . ..”1
When we are ready for it, when we are able and willing to use it, we shall know more than we now know. In the meantime, it is our obligation and opportunity to be respectful of the knowledge, the commandments, and the freedom that the Lord God has already given, with the blessed assurance that all things deserved will be ours, and that His plans and purposes will unfold for us, according to our willingness to use well what we do now know.
1Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Over-Soul
January 12, 1958
Broadcast Number 1,482