Thought for Today
Psalm 121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
I just saw a news report on the television about a cyber-attack on a computer app widely used by students, universities and schools in the U.S.A. “Thousands of schools around the US were paralyzed on Thursday after education tech firm Instructure shut down access to its Canvas platform following a breach by hackers going by the name ShinyHunters.” (wired.com) Evidently the platform has been hacked and a ransomware note posted online. Many schools and universities are either in finals or are rapidly approaching the end-of-term finals. This computer program evidently is a platform hosting study notes, prior exam questions and a host of other materials upon which students rely as they prepare for their exams.
Computers were not in public use when I was awarded my baccalaureate degree in engineering. They were in the earliest stages of development and use when I received my MBA. By the time I entered seminary many years later, they had become ubiquitous in academia, business and in even home use. I write these daily Thoughts on my computer. I share these Thoughts via computer, either in an email, posted on Facebook or on our church’s website in a blog. I use a computer program to extract those Bible verses that headline each Thought. I make extensive use of my computer in researching and preparing my weekly sermons. Even though few of us are aware of the fact as we drive, our automobiles contain from 30 to 100 individual computers to allow us to do so.
Students, adults, people of all ages, cultures, countries, occupations almost everyone everywhere, we have all become very dependent on computers. There is a somewhat humorous and ironic line sometimes appended to “Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” . . . but the unrighteous have stolen all the umbrellas. Jesus did not say those last words, but many of us secretly think those words reveal a sad truth.
Pontus Pilot famously asked Jesus, “John 18:38 . . . "What is truth?" Although it is obviously not what Pilot referenced, the truth is that amidst all the ubiquitousness of computer usage, in the throes of the development of AI we have grown mentally and spiritually lazy. We want our computers to do all the work for us and many anxiously anticipate the day when our computers will do all the thinking for us.
It is easy to forget, “Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” Admittedly, fewer and fewer of us are literally tilling and keeping the fields of Eden today. Agriculture in the U.S.A. has become agribusiness. But, in a broader sense, irrespective of our occupation, all of us are here for the purpose of tilling and keeping the garden of God’s Creation.
In doing so, all of us should make use of the best available tools and implements for our tasks in tilling and keeping. For many today, computers are extremely useful tools. But computers and all of the marvelous software applications available are merely tools. When a modern tool breaks or is unavailable for any reason, we must sometimes resort to the tools which preceded that modern tool.
Ultimately, we should all remember the words of the psalmist, “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” For all of those students, teachers, professors and academic professionals, God has already provided them the backup tools . . . their minds. In addition to the eyes God gave us with which to see, the ears God gave us with which to hear, the hands God gave us with which to work, God gave us minds with which to think and reason. We may not have used them recently, but our minds are still able to read books, retain what we read and to think through problems. Our minds may have grown dusty and rusty, but they can be easily rebooted.
Stay safe, look to God for your help, trust God,
Pastor Ray