Pilgrimage Archaeology

He dug in the earth; troweled, plowed
And troweled until the earth turned raw, hot,
Until the ground grew red and growled,
Disturbed ’til he found what he sought.

He dug ’til his eyes turned stone-dry,
His own hands chapped and cracked and mauled
By the dust, his ancestors.
Through the caves he squeezed and crawled.

“Where did the sun turn back ten steps?
Where did the iron axe float?
Which is the hill of Calvary
Upon which Christ they smote?”

The sun beat heavy from above,
Lightly heavy to the ground,
To him. The hot Wind blew through
His blistered skin. He heard a Sound:

“Your sight, your mind, your thought,
Knowledge, aptitude and discretion
Are worthless to find miracles.
You look the wrong direction.”

Day 13

…we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).

I used to think I should know it all. I used to think that it could be known, and if I didn’t know it, I needed to search harder. I used to think that whatever evidence I could find should convince people to believe in God. I think I’ve figured out it doesn’t work that way.

Arguing someone to faith is about as effective as forcing someone’s love. Jesus could pray to His Father in front of a crowd and God could speak audibly back to Him for everyone to hear, and people still said it was just thunder (John 12:29). Do we expect to do better with much less?

My husband once told me that he has come to realize that if God wanted to be proven unquestionably to all people with some sort of trump card evidence, He would have left the trail. Even if people are directly confronted with God, they will not believe in Him. The Apostle Paul says God has revealed Himself already in His creation for anyone who desires to see Him (Rom. 1:20).

We can drive ourselves to insanity trying to think we can find the alchemist’s equation, like Nebuchadnezzar thought he was all that (Daniel 4). Only if we look to heaven and acknowledge God is God and can do what He wills with whomever He wills, will we receive our own clarity.

I love archaeology and science. I studied anthropology and geology. I think it reveals God to us more. But let’s not rely on our knowledge disproportionately to prove God (or to prove ourselves for that matter) to anyone else.

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