On July 21, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin blasted off the surface of the moon and rendezvoused with the command module orbiting above them.
The manoeuvre went smoothly and a few hours later they were on their way back to Earth. It sounds simple enough, but a space rendezvous is not a simple task. In his book, “One Giant Leap”, Charles Fishman writes that one of the great difficulties was that “human intuition—based on 30 or 40 years of living on Earth and rendezvousing with things all the time: a doorway, the curb, freeway entrance ramps—is not only useless in space but it also tells you to do the wrong thing.”
In order to catch up to something in orbit, you have to slow down. What works on earth doesn’t work in space.
The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, challenged them with the truth that their earthly wisdom was foolishness in comparison with the heavenly wisdom of God. We are just as prone as they to thinking that because of long experience in earthly matters, we are perfectly capable of making sense of heavenly realities. We believe that our earthly wisdom will stand the test of God’s pure and holy gaze, and that on the day of judgement when all things are made plain, we will be shown to be righteous. The truth, however, is exactly like what happened to Jim McDivitt as he tried to rendezvous for the first time all those years ago. With the target in his sights, he fired his thrusters, only to find himself even further away. He carefully lined up with the target again and fired the thrusters once more and found himself even further away. After several attempts to close the gap, McDivitt gave up and reported that he estimated he was three to four miles from his target. All of our attempts to close the gap between us and God using our earthly wisdom will only end up with us further and further away. Every time we think we have righteousness in our sights and we apply a burst of good works, or of moral living, or of religious fervour to rendezvous with it, we will find ourselves drifting away from true righteousness and further and further into the cold, lonely darkness of our own self-righteousness.
McDivitt was debriefed after the flight, and Fishman notes that, “He had learned the theory and math of orbital mechanics, and he had been taught what the correct maneuvers were to be able to rendezvous. But, when it came down to it, when he was at the controls of his spaceship looking at that booster out the capsule window, he just didn’t buy those instructions.”
If we are going to draw near to God, we need to do so with heavenly wisdom, and that wisdom comes from God alone. He has graciously revealed the way of approach and salvation in the Bible, but we need to believe what he has said and act on it if we are to be saved. Paul wrote to those same Corinthians about “Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
The wisdom of God is shown in the birth of Jesus as a baby, his growth in the care of his parents, his earthly ministry to the helpless and lost, his death on the cross in betrayal and humiliation, his resurrection in power and glory, and his ascension to the right hand of his Father in heaven. Stop striving, and seek Christ, and he will draw near to you.
Pastor Stephen Plouffe is a minister at Birch Hill Free Church. A guest sermon runs regularly in Saturday’s Guardian and is provided through Christian Communications.
