I don't know

I hate not knowing the answer to a question. I don't like having to say, "I don't know." I feel like it's some sort of failure. A blemish in my character. I should know, but I don't. It may also be a prideful thing. The professor, the teacher would know the answer. The student...probably not. 

Sometimes I don't know because I have forgotten. Other times I don't know because I never knew. Regardless of why I have to say "I don't know" I just dislike doing it. It humbles a person when they need to respond, "I don't know." 

Is there any scripture about this topic? God says to Isaiah in chapter 40, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth." Maybe, we don't know. Maybe we haven't heard. But God drops the mic! God is eternal. God is creator! That's all you need to know. 

The worst case in history of not knowing answers has to be given to Job. After Job and his three friends attempted to figure out why Job was suffering, God pummeled him with questions for three straight chapters in the book of Job. Questions including:

• "How did I lay the foundation for the earth?"
• "What is the way to the abode of light?"
• "And where does darkness reside?"
• "When do mountain goats and deer give birth?"
• "Who set wild donkeys free?"

In the book of Acts, the 12 Apostles were identified as "ordinary, uneducated men." In other words, they didn't know the answer to every question people would ask them. They didn't have all the answers, but as John wrote in 1 John 1:1, "...we have heard...we have seen with our eyes...and our hands have touched...(we) testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life...which has appeared to us." They walked and talked and learned from Jesus Christ. Even then they didn't know all the answers to life. 

Not knowing doesn't make us ignorant, it just makes us human. Only God is all-knowing or omniscient. We may one day know the answers to most if not all questions, but that time won't be in this lifetime. For now, God asks us to trust Him. An element of faith is believing and trusting, knowing that He is smarter, stronger, and wiser than we are.