Do you remember the day you were born?

Can anyone out there remember the face of the doctor when they popped out of the womb?

They day of my daughter Lorelai's brith is painted vividly in my mind. I remember getting up in the middle of the night with the contractions, getting in the car driving a block to the hospital, getting checked in, going to Walmart for the supplies for a long wait, the face of the doctor, the two epidurals, Laura giving birth (I will spare you the details), Lorelai's little and red grasping hands. I can see it all right now as I write this. It is all very clear to me, I don't have to make anything up or take anything on faith. I know what happened.

But I have to admit I remember nothing of my own birth. I know where I was born the town, the hospital, and I obviously know who my parents are, but I don't remember any of this from that day. I don't know what the doctor's face looked like, I know a few of the details of labor only because I have been told what happened. But I don't remember a thing, I would assume you don't remember anything about your birth either even though we were there.

God begins to speak in Job chap 38, "Who is it that darkens my counsel? Who speaks empty words without knowledge? Brace yourself up like a man. I will question you and you will answer me." God then begins to lay out the laws of nature and the calling of things into existence. As he describes placing the boundaries of the ocean and the foundations of the earth he says to Job, "surely you were there, surely you are old enough and know the things of which I speak." The obvious answer is no, we weren't there. Job wasn't there, you and I weren't there.

We speak so confidently of things we do not "know." We did not watch the world form. We weren't there whether it was the day of a big bang or the day when God spoke. Yet we have debates about it all the time speaking with the authority of one who stood there and watched it happen. The big bang relies of the reasoned theories of man, from the things we have observed and tested in this day and age, drawing what conclusions we may. Creation relies on the words of scripture, like this passage in Job, telling us what happened.

Both of these theories of origin depend on a decision of faith. Do we choose to believe in the proposed conclusions of the scientific observation? Do we choose to believe the words of scripture as the words of the God who was actually there and did these things? They both come down to faith, because we weren't there.

I know the story of my birth from listening to the words of my parents. The ones who were there. I choose to believe God is real, from the evidences in my life and the amazing ways the words of scripture have been ratified through history. So I'm choosing to listen to the words of my heavenly Father, because in faith I believe he was there.

Either way when we talk about our origins, I would pray we do it with the humility of faith, knowing neither one of us was there. We may be the one darkening God's counsel and speaking words with out knowledge. I choose to trust in his knowledge and lean into his wisdom. I brace myself up like a man and listen to the words God has to share.