In a small eastern Kentucky town, the local police chief also served as part of the Volunteer Fire Department. His job was to answer the phone and in the event of a fire was to ring the fire bell to summon all the volunteer firemen in the county.
One Saturday morning, the phone rang and the chief answered, “Fire department.” Out of the ear phone came the terrified voice of a woman yelling, “Hurry, send the fire truck!”, but immediately hung up the phone.The chief sat there stunned. “Send it where?”
In a very few minutes, the phone rang again, and the chief again answered, “Fire department.” Once more, in hysterical cries, the voice on the other end of the phone cried, “Hurry! Hurry!, send the fire truck,” and again immediately hung up the phone.
The chief was even more perturbed. He ran out into the street and surveyed the scene for a full 360 degrees, looking for smoke. No smoke. Where was the fire? Whose house was going up in flames? Were there children who were in danger? All these things flitted through his mind.
He heard the phone rang again, and on the way back to the station office, he devised a way to keep the lady on the phone long enough to find where to send the fire truck. He grabbed the phone, and yelled, “Where’s the fire?” The voice on the other end returned the yell by saying, “In the kitchen!” and promptly hung up the phone once more.
So much of what is called religion is a lot like this humorous situation. Insufficient information leaves people insufficiently informed, and the lack of information promotes nothing but confusion. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hos. 4:6). Only the full truth of God satisfies every situation in life.
It is by “every word” that comes from God’s mouth, that our Lord says life in him is possible. “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). It is extremely difficult to know where you are going or how to get there without sufficient information.
Ken Hamilton
Granite, OK