If ignorance is bliss, what is knowledge?

"when you become aware"

Leviticus 5:5

I've been thinking a lot lately, about things I don't know.  Or more specifically, about things I don't know that I don't know.  Of which there's probably a lot, but I can't be too sure, if you get my drift....

I've been helping Amazing Boy do a thorough cleaning in his room.  Sort of a spring-even-though-it's-the-height-of-summer cleaning.  Under the dresser, in the backs of his desk drawers, at the bottom of his toy trunk, etc.  And you know what we've found?  Things he didn't even know were there.  Stuff he didn't even know he had.  And most definitely, things I didn't know he had.  Like a part to a game, that we've been looking for for months.  Or that other sock.  Or a few coins.  Each discovery accompanied by exclamations of, "There it is!" or "How'd that get there?"  Same thing happens to me, of course.  Cleaning out a closet, or a junk drawer in the garage.  I didn't know I still had that... I didn't know that was there....

The other reason that "stuff I don't know" is on my mind, is that I just finished reading James Bradley's Flags of our Fathers.  I know I mentioned that a few days ago, but you can't read something that profound, and not have it settle into your consciousness.   The book is about the Battle of Iwo Jima, and there was a lot that I didn't know about this very important battle in World War II.   And to be very honest, there was a lot that I didn't want to know.  I know enough enough about history to know what happened, but I don't always want to know the details.  There are horrors that are more than my mind can handle, about the Holocaust, and in this book, about the brutality of war in general, and the atrocities committed against American soldiers, by the Japanese.  Mark Twain once said, "the mind that becomes soiled can never again be washed clean."   And sure enough, I wish I didn't know what I now know.

But there are times in life, when it's necessary for us to know what we don't know.  Ignorance might be bliss, but it's also a cop-out.  I believe that it's my responsibility to subject myself to some unpleasant details about what American soldiers went through ~ and go through ~ on behalf of my freedom.  These men endured.  The least I can do is not bury my head in the sand.  Some of these men struggled with nightmares for years after the war; am I owed a good night's sleep every night?  It is about honoring their sacrifice.

By the same token, but in a lighter-hearted example, it could be said that Amazing Boy should do a better job of keeping track of his socks.  He has a responsibility to get his dirty clothes into the laundry, and not let them get lost under his dresser.   And as he matures, he is realizing this responsibility on his part.

All of this begs the question: What is it I don't know about my spiritual life?  In what way am I ignorant of something that it's my responsibility to know?   Job chapter 1 tells us that Job would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of his children, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts."  It impresses me how important it was for him, to acknowledge the sins his children could not, because they were unaware.

Today's highlighted verse in Leviticus talks about the transition from unaware to aware.  It talks about our responsibility.  "If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty... they must confess in what way they have sinned."  Awareness should lead to confession, and confession will lead to forgiveness.  Whether we seek to know how we have sinned, and He reveals it to us; or we come to realization on our own, we have a responsibility to know things we don't know.

Finding out things we didn't know can make us feel foolish, or it can be downright painful.  But when it comes to sin, ignorance is no excuse.

~ "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just 

and will forgive us our sins 

and purify us form all unrighteousness." ~

1 John 1:9