Logic…it can be a person’s friend, or enemy. You can add two plus two, and get the sum of four. Logical. Or you can get up at 3 AM and fight the Black Friday crowds. Illogical. Probably the individual best known for discussing logical and illogical things was Spock. I can remember him on more than one occasion telling Kirk, “Captain, that’s highly illogical.” His reasoning? He replied that he was a man of science, as if that was supposed to answer every question we, the viewers, had. But you don’t have to be a scientist to see things as illogical. Watch the evening news. Read the latest headlines. It stands to reason that you have said (or thought) those same words at one time or another about something that, well…seems illogical.
History is full of events and people that defy logic. Take the Wright brothers. It completely defies logic that they would be the first to conquer sustained, controlled, heavier-than-air flight. They were just bicycle repairmen. Their competitors, Samuel Langley, Octave Chanute, Glenn Curtiss, and others, had the money, the education, and the “corporate” teams to help. The Wright brothers had none of this. It is illogical that these two brothers could take some spruce, cotton, and 15-gauge bicycle spoke wire and create a contraption that would eventually be famously known as the Wright Flyer. However, on December 17, 1903, the illogical became real…if only for a few moments. That first flight lasted only 12 seconds, going 120 feet, with the speed topping out at a whopping 6.8 miles per hour. For perspective, the fastest measured speed of Olympic Gold Medalist Usain Bolt is over 27 miles per hour…and the fastest recorded speed of an aircraft (SR-71) is roughly 2,200 miles per hour! If we could travel back to 1903 and tell Orville and Wilbur that in 73 years, man would run four times faster than their flyer, and an aircraft would fly 2,200 miles per hour, they would probably find us, to quote Spock, “highly illogical”.
The story of God is one that defies logic. Here are but a few examples:
God says to man: “March around this city one time each day for 6 days. Don’t make any sound with your voices. On that seventh morning, wake up march around the city seven times – on the seventh time scream at the top of your lungs, and the city will be yours”.
God’s power is on display.
How about this one:
Boy goes out to meet brothers. Boy sees bully. Boy stands up to bully. Boy takes the simplest of weapons. Boy chooses five stones. Boy launches stone into bully’s head, killing said bully. God uses said boy for the rest of his life, in spite of cheating and second degree homicide.
God’s redemption is on display.
Or we have this one:
Young man prays. King makes decree. No one will pray to anyone except the king. Young man still prays to God. Young man taken and thrown into pit with lions. God muzzles lions. Young man pulled out of pit. Deceivers thrown in – off come the muzzles. Not a pretty sight.
God’s protection is on display.
And finally:
God tells old man to build something that has never been built before. He calls it an ark. What’s an ark? It’s this huge structure that is going to float on the flood waters. What is flood water? You’ll see God says, just do as I say. The old man does what God instructs him to do, and then God does what he said he would do. The flood comes. The boat floats. The old man is saved.
God’s faithfulness is one display.
Throughout the story of us, we, like Joshua, David, Daniel and Noah, find ourselves at intersections of God’s power, redemption, protection and faithfulness. We clearly miss many of these moments, so God beautifully allows one other trait to shine through – His patience. He reminds us that if and when we put on our faith-lensed glasses, we see all that He is doing around us, through us, and in us.
Spock would most definitely call this illogical. But you know what? I will embrace the illogical power, redemption, protection, faithfulness, and patience of God every day. To not do so, would really be…highly illogical, Captain.
Faith, Leadership, and History 