187th Edition
One step forward, two steps back
New technologies are discovered all the time. They make things easier for us. Then comes the law of unintended consequences. Consider these examples just in my relatively short lifetime…
When I was a toddler, my mom would often take me to the grocery store to do her weekly shopping. I’d sit in the grocery cart while she pushed it up and down the aisles, eventually filling it before proceeding to the checkout line. Then she demonstrated her amazing math skills. As the checkout lady keyed in the price of every item, my mom would add up the prices of each item and before the total was tabulated by the manually-operated cash register my mom would tell me the total. She was always accurate to the penny. Today, with calculators, bar codes, and scanners very few people can do simple arithmetic. Math skills in most public schools are generally abysmal. Does this matter?
Technology has helped us get places faster and with less physical effort. Today, we rely upon escalators, elevators, moving sidewalks, e.bikes, motorized scooters and skateboards, and a host of battery-operated devices that move us or move items we take along with us. As a result, physical fitness has declined while obesity has increased. Fortunately, there are pills that can help us lose weight and improve our health. No harm done, I guess…
Now we face perhaps the most profound innovation of our lifetime – Artificial Intelligence. I’ve used it. It is amazing. As a tool, it will undoubtedly make us more efficient at a host of tasks. Writing, summarizing, organizing, analyzing, and researching are all much easier and faster with AI. In short, it can think quicker and more comprehensively than we can. Today, there are all kinds of signs that we have lost the ability to engage in critical thinking. Discernment seems to be a lost art as well. Worse still, we don’t know what or who to trust, and our addiction to the Internet and especially social media has made us more disconnected, isolated, and distrusting than we’ve ever been. Surely, this matters…
At some point in our development, we determined that by making things easier to do, life would be better. Certainly, in many instances this has been proven to be a sound philosophy. However, as humans are prone to do, we often go too far. When that happens, we search for a new technology that will solve the problem that the previous innovation caused. We have placed our trust, even our faith, in our ability to solve every problem we face through technological discovery. This “one step forward, two steps back” rhythm to life is never going to end. Yes, sometimes it is many more steps forward and only a few steps back, like when we discovered penicillin or the polio vaccine. Or when we discovered fire, refrigeration, or the light bulb. But sometimes, the hard way is the best way. Sometimes taking the stairs, or using a rake or shovel, or silencing your phone and having an intimate face-to-face conversation, is the best way even though it is more difficult. How can we decide when to harness new technologies and when to do things the old-fashioned way?
Consider this story that I’ve used for years as a sports devotional (author unknown) It’s called P.U.S.H.
A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. God told the man he had work for him to do and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. God explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.
This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Since the man was showing signs of discouragement, the Devil decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind:
“You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.”
Thus, the Devil gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.
These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. “Why kill myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, give just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.” And that is what he planned to do, until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to God.
“God,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”
God responded compassionately, “My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back is sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”
At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves the mountains.
When practice is really hard, P.U.S.H.! When things don’t go your way in a game, P.U.S.H.! When everything seems to go wrong, P.U.S.H! Pray…Until…Something…Happens
Sound advice to live by, but maybe not the best approach in every situation. Perhaps it comes down to trying to find the ideal balance between faith, trust, and patience on one hand and creativity, resourcefulness, and determination on the other. It might help to know and accept that God is ultimately in control. In his loving arms we can place all our hopes and dreams, as well as our disappointments. With this understanding, we can rest assured that our God-centered efforts are never in vain, and that our lives matter. We can be at peace with the realization that life is sometimes painful, often exhilarating, and always interesting.
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Michael Kayes
*These views are my personal opinions and are not the viewpoints of any company or organization.