I Assume You Will Read This

Assumption: something taken for granted, a supposition.

            We make assumptions every day.  I assume that when I flip the light switch the lights will go on.  I assume that when I put my key in the switch and turn the ignition the car will start.  I assume that when my daughter hasn’t seen me for a couple days and I come home, when she notices me sneak into the room, she will drop everything, shriek with joy and come give me a hug that would make a python proud.  And there really is no problem at all with that kind of assumption.  We make suppositions all the time based on our knowledge of how things work, maybe our past history of interactions.  Honestly, if we didn’t make assumptions, we would be completely unproductive.  For example, getting up in the morning to brush your teeth might go something like this...toss something out of your bed to make sure it falls to the ground because you have to know that gravity still works before you swing your legs out of bed.  Get the first leg out and test to see if the second one will follow.  Just because your legs are similar you can’t assume that they will act the same way.  I won’t even get in to all of the assumptions required by walking.  How about testing to make sure your toothpaste is ok and hasn’t been taken by spider monkeys overnight and injected with poison.  I point out a few crazy things to demonstrate that we make assumptions all the time about many things simply because the alternative would leave us productively paralyzed.

            While that may be the case, assumptions can get us in a great deal of trouble.  One biblical example we see is in the life of Jesus himself.  When He was 12 years old His family went up to Jerusalem as was their custom.  When the Feast of the Passover was finished they returned home.  In those days, people didn’t just hit the interstate and make it home in a few hours.  Rather, they would travel in a pretty sizeable caravan for safety.  Luke 2 records the story for us.  It says that Jesus lingered in Jerusalem and His parents didn’t know it.  Why you ask?  Because they ASSUMED He was with some of their relatives that they were traveling with.  Panic began to set in and three days later, they found Him in the temple listening and asking questions of the teachers.  If I just made that assumption and left my 6 year old daughter, Abby, unattended for 3 days, Child Protective Services would be all over me.

            While that was just an innocent assumption there is another biblical example that is much more sinister.  In the book of Esther we are introduced to Esther’s uncle Mordecai and Haman, the King’s right hand man who hated Mordecai.  Never mind that Haman had his position because Mordecai discovered a plot to kill the king and Haman took the place of the King’s eunuch’s who were hanged for their plot.  Mordecai wouldn’t bow down to Haman like everyone else and Haman’s pride couldn’t let that go. 

            Haman plotted against Mordecai and built a gallows 50 cubits high with the intent of hanging him from it.  That night the king couldn’t sleep and so he asked for a bedtime story.  Just happened that the bedtime story they read to him was entitled, “Mordecai Saves the King.”  The king asked what was done to honor Mordecai and found out that nothing had been done.

            Anyway, the next day, as Haman was plotting against Mordecai, the King was planning to honor him.  Here is where assumption does Haman in.  When the king asks him how he would honor someone, Haman assumed the king was talking about him.  If you remember the rest of the story, it didn’t work out so well for Haman.  If you don’t remember the story, you can pick it up in Esther chapter 6. 

              My point in all of this is simply that we must be careful what assumptions we make.  They may come back to bite us.  The definition I started with for assumption is “something taken for granted.”  Nobody wants to be taken for granted.  As Christians, if we are not very intentional and careful, we may take God for granted.  Let me leave you with a test to see if you take God for granted.  Let’s look at the area of thankfulness.  What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today?  Philippians 4:6 says “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”  Something to think about!